


The Key to Destruction

by Cornerofmadness



Series: The Keys [1]
Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-08 17:41:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17390771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cornerofmadness/pseuds/Cornerofmadness
Summary: Two supernatural beings, two missions, one collision course.





	1. Connor

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadySilver](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySilver/gifts).



> **Disclaimer** \-- Whedon owns all
> 
>  **Warning** \-- none
> 
>  **Author’s Note** written for fandom_stocking’s 2018 edition and written for argentum_is. Happy Holidays. This AR does acknowledge the Angel comic’s canon (IDW, not Dark Horse) but not so much the Buffy one (as I know one and not the other).

X X X

Connor hiked along the edge of the water, loving the feel of the surf against his toes. Here at the Haystacks in Oregon the water felt cooler. He remembered the first time he saw the ocean, the emptiness, the horror of it. He could hear Fred telling him it wasn't empty, that it was all under the surface. That was true of so many things. God, he missed her. He still wasn’t entirely over the mixed feelings the ocean stirred in him. Like sea life, it was under his surface, but there, alive, thriving, haunting like learning Gunn and Fred were keeping him busy so Angel could kill Holtz and Gunn being okay with it; Angel holding Connor’s head under the water as he tried to stop the fight by half drowning his son; Angel screaming he loved Connor even as he sank; A fake memory of making sandcastles with the Reilleys.

 _Damn, my only good memory of water is fake._ Connor sighed. Maybe today would make for a good memory, a real one, and it would all hinge on the lovely young lady splashing through the surf next to him. Maybe she possessed the ability to help give him good happy ocean memories.

Connor hadn't expected to find someone on this mission. Angel had sent him north with two things in mind. One, to show him there were beautiful places in this world, and God, Oregon was gorgeous, and two, to check to see if the rumors of a hellmouth opening in Portland were true. He couldn't speak to the latter yet but with what they were charging for lodging he was half rooting for the hellmouth. No hotel was worth what the average downtown hotel cost. He ended up renting a furnished shoebox on the less good side of town because it was way cheaper for how long he might be in town on this investigation, and it allowed him to cook for himself and not go through so much money every day.

He'd met Dawn downtown on a ghost tour. Oddly, he sensed she had another agenda for being on the tour but she never said one way or the other. As for him, he thought it was fun, and he was still trying to get a handle on his mother's visit with him back in those darkest of days. He wanted to know more about ghosts so why not take a ghost tour? If nothing else, he got to know that area of downtown a lot better.

He and Dawn hit it off, went for beers afterward in one of the haunted pubs, even though he wasn't legal. God bless the really good fake magic-made ID he had because he wasn't old enough to rent a car either. Maybe magic did have its place. He and Dawn had been inseparable for the last three weeks, she having abandoned her motel to stay in the shoebox with him. She was an art student in town to do a portfolio for a summer project for her major. She wouldn't know about the potential horror that brought him to Portland. He sure as hell wasn’t telling Dawn about hellmouths, vampires and real ghosts. She didn’t need to know the monsters he faced, even though having her with him in the evening had made it hard to sneak out and investigate. When she asked why he was in town, he had lied and told her he was a creative writing major researching a setting for his urban fantasy novel. The more Connor thought about it, the more he wouldn’t mind being the next Jim Butcher, not a bad ambition for someone who had barely learned to read. Who had time for that in Quor-Toth?

What made Dawn special was he knew for sure she was real and had in no agenda in being with him unlike literally any and all women in his life, and hey he was getting pretty good at this sex thing if he did say so himself. Practice always helped.

He smiled over at Dawn. Her toe nails had been painted an electrifying shade of blue. It matched her eyes, his too for that matter. The polish glinted under the water. She paused at a tidal pool, stepping out onto the damp sand so not to disturb the creatures living in the pools. She unholstered her camera, an expensive professional-looking thing that was surprisingly heavy, and she took some macro shots of the swaying anemones. Dawn straightened up, took his arm and maneuvered Connor so that the iconic Haystack rock was over one shoulder. He smiled as she snapped a picture thinking he had the worse, most psychotic smile in the world. He could cosplay the Joker easily. He beckoned her to snuggle in close, and he captured them in a couple of selfies, their hair whipping in the strong winds blowing off the water.

She snagged his hand and hauled him away from the water, toward the beach bag she had dragged along with them. Dawn flopped down on the blanket they had spread out and weighted down with various items from the bag. She picked up her sketch pad and flipped it to a fresh page so she could begin to draw Cannon Beach.

"I'm glad we came down here. It's beautiful," she said.

"Agreed. It's fun playing tourist," Connor replied, and it was. It was his first time being one. Oh, he had memories of family vacations that never were, which in some ways saddened him. At least now he knew all these memories were the real deal and he could use them to offset his headful of lies.

He took a tablet and pen out of the bag to occupy his time while Dawn drew. Maybe it was his upbringing but he felt more at home with pen and paper than taking notes on his phone. Dawn thought he was jotting down notes about his novel and certainly it would read that way. In reality, he was scribbling what he'd learned about the hellmouth, and something he learned last night truly disturbed him. It was one of the reasons he wanted out of Portland for the day.

From the Demonica - a theoretical Goth club but in reality demon club where he had wanted to destroy most of the clientele - Connor learned that a group of mages wanted to force a hellmouth open using a living key. What he hadn't discovered was who the key was, or why the hell anyone would want to do this. _Magic,_ he thought derisively, _Maybe it made you nuts._. It hadn’t been easy to get away from his apartment last night but he had come up with a good excuse, or so he thought. He’d told Dawn he suffered PTSD and walking helped him. It let him slip out at night without her tagging along and being put at risk, especially since he was snooping around demon bars. It seemed like a time to get his dad up here. He might need help with a group of mages. Demons he could handle – especially with his newly evolved abilities.

_Thank you Sisterhood of Jaro Hull and all your stabbiness_

Demons were fine. Mages were a problem because he couldn’t punch magic in the face. _Yeah, time to call in Angel_. He knew it would be super awkward though when Dad found out he was living with a girl he just met but since - gross as it was to him - Angel remained a sexual being so he might understand. Hell, he had told Illyria it was okay to ask Connor to breed with her. He should have kicked his dad in the nuts for that one.

"What are you smiling so big about?" Dawn asked.

Connor snorted, his face flushing. He couldn't tell the ball-kicking truth. "Thought of a plot twist."

“I want to read this when you’re done with it.” Dawn brushed his hair out of his eyes. "You're going to have to let me paint you."

"I doubt I'd make good art.” He was a lot of things, but model handsome he wasn't. Occasionally, he was jealous of his dad's build and looks.

"I wouldn't say that. You have beautiful eyes." Dawn said, bringing heat to his cheeks. "But I was thinking more of the flavored edible kinds, if you know what I mean."

Connor swallowed hard. His shorts might not be nearly adequate to hide his interest in the paint idea. "I'm _so_ open to that." Yep, all Angel needed to know about this living arrangement was 'Bohemian artist' meets teenaged boy or was he twenty? Connor literally had no idea. He was, on paper, twenty, based on the idea he'd been eighteen when he hit Earth, but he had no way of knowing how accurate that was. Cordelia had decided he was eighteen. Probably the small part of her not controlled by Jasmine had been trying to make herself feel better, not to mention legal, about sleeping with a naive kid whose only knowledge of fornication was it was a sin and you were supposed to be married. Father had misled him on that point. The grey clouds of depression rolled across his mind, and Dawn frowned, so it must have shown on his face.

"Connor, you okay?"

He shook his head. "Remember me saying I have a little PTSD and depression?" That much was true. He knew he couldn't hide it entirely - though he was far better than he was prior to Vail’s spell - so he blamed it on what happened in L.A., which naturally had made world news.

"Anything I can do to help?" She entwined her fingers with his.

"You're already doing it," he said, and Dawn kissed him. That certainly helped his mood. He let the past go the best he could so he could enjoy this wonderful now. He was not about to let this day full of lovely settings and lovely company be ruined by the crap inside his brain.

 


	2. Dawn

Chapter Two

_Buffy would absolutely kill me,_ she thought, _if she knew I was shacked up with some guy._ Dawn glanced over her shoulder at Connor sleeping fitfully on the convertible couch that doubled as the bed in his tiny rental. Oregon proved to be as expensive to live in as California. Dawn almost envied Faith's cheaper living in Cleveland. Of course, at the moment, Faith was in San Diego with Buffy and Willow routing a large organized group of vampires looking for the prophesized miracle child Ul-Thar had gone on and on about. Soon her sister would be here, and Dawn wondered if she should go back to hotel living or was it better to get lectured by Buffy and probably Willow - not to mention Xander if he found out - and keep on staying with Connor? Faith would give her a thumb's up no doubt.

Dawn took another look at Connor. He was kinda cute but more importantly he was kind and attentive. She had dated a few guys in college - Giles insisted Watchers should have as much schooling as possible - but none of them had made her the priority Connor had.

Sighing softly Dawn turned back to her laptop, unable to sleep. This was just a sweet summer fling. That's all it could be. Connor didn't belong in her world of Watchers, Slayers and monsters. He might write about such things - not that he'd share his writing with her, not ready to be seen he'd say - but he had no idea the monsters were real. She hoped it stayed that way for him. No one should have to face the freakshow her sister and friends did. That said, Dawn was glad her family was there to protect the innocent.

She knew her sister would probably still be awake so she called Buffy and brought up a chat window to see if Willow was around.

“Hi. I’m on patrol. What’s up?”

Softly so not to wake Connor, Dawn told Buffy that she had found out something from a mage Willow had heard of. Deshawn was a young man, still in high school but his mother was a witch and had been teaching him practically since the cradle. “ The hellmouth isn't open yet. Might be Ethan Rayne.”

“How is he not dead yet?”

Dawn snorted then glanced over her shoulder to be sure she hadn’t awoken Connor. “Cockroaches never die. They're looking for a demon lord called the Destroyer.”

“Lame. Gotta run. I think a couple vampires just went into the club on the corner.”

“Stay Safe.”

Dawn glanced at the computer but didn't see anything from Willow but a chat window from Deshawn flashed at her. She clicked on it. "You're up late."

"Mom didn't know I was listening to the coven meeting. They said something you might want to know."

"About the group of mages?"

"No, the demon lord. Mom said something about Quor-Toth. He conquered Quor-Toth and his legend has lasted for centuries. Don't know what that is but she sounded scared. Never heard mom this scared before. She's talking about getting out of Portland for a few weeks or that's what she told me. Told the coven she might move back with Grandma for a little while, especially if that hellmouth gets opened. They think it might open in the shanghai tunnels"

A chat window couldn't convey emotion but Dawn was sure Deshawn was afraid. "Thanks. I'll look into it."

"Maybe you should go home."

"Not yet, but I appreciate the concern."

Deshawn signed off. Dawn sent Willow a heads up about the Destroyer from Quor-Toth before accessing the Watcher's files so she could do her own research. What she learned made her want to get back under the covers with Connor, and then high tail it out of Portland tomorrow. Quor-Toth was the darkest of the dark realms.

What sort of monster rose to the rank of demon lord in a place like that? Dawn tried to picture it. Did he have horns like the iconic devil? Was he venomous? Uglier than vamp face? Maybe he had quills or scales like armor. Whatever it was, he had to be vicious and ugly since most demons were. If the mages - especially if it was Ethan behind this - managed to bring the Destroyer through what would happen? If he could conquer Quor-Toth, then what would he do here? Hopefully take out Ethan first off but after that, Dawn shuddered to think.

Willow was either asleep or out since she didn’t answer. Dawn shut down and crawled back into bed, looping an arm over Connor. He murmured softly. The last thing she had done before she had shut down was to see if there were ways into the shanghai tunnels. Mostly they were closed but there were a couple of tours that went into them. 

One ended under the Merchant Hotel. She had already been there the day she had met Connor on the ghost tour. Dawn had taken it because she knew it went underground and if anyone was going to put a hellmouth within city limits it seemed like a likely place to put it. What she remembered of it that there wasn't much that tourists didn't see because there wasn't much opened any more. She had found another tour, an underground tour. She could convince Connor to go on it, and she could take another look around. That was her plan at any rate but first some sleep was in order. She just hoped she didn't have nightmares about the Destroyer, whatever he may be.

X X X

“I know this is touristy but I'm glad you're willing to do it," Dawn said, but she noticed she had to agree to wait in the long line at Voo Doo donuts for breakfast. Connor had a sweet tooth but it was good to know she could control her man with donuts.

Connor took a big bite out of his bacon maple bar, chewing thoughtfully before answering, "We met doing touristy things. We _are_ tourists." He laughed. "It sounds like fun. I wanted a better look at those shanghai tunnels too."

"Good. My camera takes good low light phones." 

"Send them to me when we're done. My phone doesn't like low light."

She nibbled her mango tango donut, the sweet mango filling exciting her taste buds. "Will do. I can _not_ believe you're eating a maple creme horn covered with bacon. That's such a Xander thing to do."

"Want to taste it?" He offered her the unbitten end.

Dawn waved him off. "I want to live past thirty."

He snorted. "I don't have to take that from someone who put a cock-n-balls donut in the box. I'm not eating that."

"You eat the Homer." She shrugged. If she had to stand in line for the better part of an hour, she was getting a full box of donuts. The rest of them were in the back of the car. She took his hand, and they strolled past the Keep Portland Weird sign. Naturally, she had to take their picture with it. It helped to take her mind off the mission. What if there was a hellmouth in those tunnels? How could she keep Connor safe? She wasn't that good of a mage yet. She had so much to learn. Dawn had been honored that she had been given the mission in the first place.

She wondered, at the time, if it had been because they didn't really thing it was more than a rumor. Buffy could be so protective after all and Dawn had proven over the last couple of years that she could handle herself, that she was well on her way to being a Watcher. She needed Willow and Giles to be proud of her.

"Dawn, everything okay?" Connor rubbed her shoulders. "You zoned out there for a moment."

"Just thinking about my project," she replied. At least that wasn't a complete lie. He'd think it was about her art. It was better that way. It was the only way she could protect him.

"Ah, I'd say I'd help but art is sort of beyond me."

"Talking it over with you might be more helpful that you think. And you don't know, maybe you have art in you. You have storytelling, right? Have you ever tried to do any art?"

"No. My Dad draws, pretty good too. I've never tried. I'm not sure I'd have much luck." Connor scowled. 

"Did you just lie to me?" Dawn didn't know why she asked that but he seemed so damn uncomfortable at that moment as they strolled along to the tour site’s beginning point, so much so she wanted to pull him to a halt.

"I had a little art therapy but I don't like talking about it." Connor glanced off as if studying the buildings around them. "I like being here with you, and I guess I'm a little scared if you know how broken I am you'll change your mind."

Dawn pulled him in and kissed him. "It's okay. I'm not perfect either. No one is and you know what, it's okay. Have you ever heard of wabi-sabi?"

He wrinkled his nose. "I think I might have heard Dad mention it."

"It's a Japanese aesthetic that holds that beauty is imperfect and transient. It doesn't matter that you're a little broken. There can be beauty in that. There's a Japanese art form called Kintsugi where they mend broken pottery with gold. It's considered even more beautiful because it has been broken and put back together, that it still endures in spite of the breaks." She paused smiling. "Listen to me, I'm sounding like one of my mentors."

He squeezed her hand and gave her another kiss. "Thank you. No one has ever tried to hint I was beautiful in any way."

The sadness in his tone hurt her. "I'm sorry. Someone should have because you're special."

He smiled, his eyes watery but he didn't cry. He did fall silent but Dawn allowed him the time to recover himself. The conversation didn't have time to fall into another deep dark hole as they managed to join the tour.

Dawn found the history fascinating. Too bad Willow wasn't here too. She'd love it. Nothing remotely hellmouthy appeared on the surface part of the tour. Once back in the tunnels under the Merchant Hotel, Dawn took a huge number of photos. She poked her nose into every nook she could. So much of it had been sealed off. Nothing seemed super evil but there was an unusual feeling near one of the doorways, a creepiness. Connor recognized it too, saying it felt haunted. Of course, this part of the tour had been on the haunted tour too so those seeds had already been planted.

He had seemed oddly interested in the tunnels, more so than she would have expected, almost as if he had a hidden agenda just like she did. She couldn't imagine what it would be. It was probably him just working on plot ideas in his head. This place was creepy enough to be a perfect urban fantasy setting.

Determining they needed to do something less weird, and worried that Connor didn't believe she thought he was okay, imperfections at all, Dawn talked him into going to the Japanese garden. It was a gorgeous setting, and neither of them wanted to leave. Many photos were taken, and Dawn couldn't wait to return with her sketch pad.

Connor treated her to dinner but once they got back to the apartment after dark, he seemed unsettled. Finally, he opted for one of his solitary walks. Dawn worried about that. Cities could be so dangerous after dark and not just from the human element Connor knew to be wary of. Still, how could she explain she'd rather he stay with her and not be vampire bait? Connor needed to go on his walk but she had to wonder what had she gotten herself into. 

She liked him, more than she expected for a summer fling. Broken might have its wabi-sabi element, but it also might be more than she could handle if he always needed to go off. Part of her wondered if there was something sinister about it. She didn't get that feeling but maybe she had watched too many true crime shows where the girlfriend sat there going 'I had no idea I was sleeping with a serial killer,' and wondering why her man sneaked away at night all the time.

She was being ridiculous. Connor was just quirky. She was used to that since her friends embodied the word. Dawn fired up her laptop to find a chat message from Willow. Quor-Toth had been a hot button. They didn't want Dawn looking into any further. She, Buffy and Faith would be there tomorrow. Dawn sighed. Was she ready to fight her family over being here with Connor? Maybe it was wiser to get that hotel room and slowly introduce him to Buffy?

While he was out, she started to check for cheap but nearby hotel rooms, just in case.


	3. Connor

Chapter Three

He'd caught Dawn looking for hotels. Connor fought the rest of the day to not let it foul his mood. Obviously she was already tired of his nonsense. Who could blame her? Everyone else got tired of him fast, or treated him like an annoyance. It didn't bug him as much as it used to but it still hurt. Ironically it was Spike who treated him like he was someone to pay attention to, like he was worthy of being treated as an adult. Gunn still saw him as a kid, Kate too but she was less obnoxious about it. He and Gunn still to this day weren't easy with one another, and he suspected they never would be. Gunn liked to play alpha male and had no intention of listening to Connor's lead not to mention there were miles of bad road between them.

He'd have to deal with that later tonight judging by Gunn's brief voice mail. He was driving Angel up in the trunk of the car so they could be here to help by evening. None of that improved his mood but he tried to hide it from Dawn. He didn't want her to leave him because this was the first time a woman wanted to be with him just for him, not because a hell goddess was forcing her or to lead him on as a sacrifice or to use him to father super strong kids. Logically, he knew it was just a fling but he didn't want it to end prematurely. 

He tried to tell himself that the hotels were because the shoebox was so small and she needed her space. Hell, it would work out better for him if he needed to investigate. He wouldn't have to lie about needing a walk to clear his head. He hated lying to her. He’d hate her leaving even more.

He'd taken her to the rose garden and back to the Japanese gardens so she could draw. He didn't protest when she wanted to hit Powell books. He didn't mind because he was a reader now, one of the very few benefits of the spell his father commissioned. Okay, his mental stability was the big good take away from the spell, but there were plenty of little things that he was grateful for. Reading was one of them. It still hurt that Angel hadn't kept him, that he had given him away, had trusted him to an evil law firm that wanted to dissect him, but it wasn't like he and his going batcrap crazy hadn't given Angel much time to think it through. 

When night fell and Gunn texted they were within a half hour of the city limits, Connor lied about needing a walk, and headed toward the Merchant Hotel. Dawn hadn't looked happy. Connor hated he was messing this up but he had to protect her. It was better to lose her and have her be safe than to have her trailing after him and something crawl out of the hellmouth and kill her.

Connor placed a quick call to his Dad’s phone when Gunn’s rolled to voice mail immediately. He was surprised when Angel actually answered. “Hey, I’m at the Merchant Hotel. Meet me here if you’re already in town.” 

“We’re in town. I’ll see if I can find that,” Angel replied, sounding like he was in a hole. Connor glanced at the sky. The sun was just setting so Angel was probably still in the trunk.

“I told Gunn to Mapquest it before you left. He’ll know,” Connor replied then signed off. He pocketed the phone. When he looked up, Dawn stood there, staring at him. His heart sank. "Did you follow me?" _Way to sound harsh and paranoid, Connor,_ he berated himself.

"No. I was...well, I had something I wanted to do in the area. What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I was just walking."

Dawn cocked her head to the side. "No...you're lying. You're good but you're lying."

Connor sighed. "Dawn, please. Trust me, it's not safe here tonight. You really can't be here."

She chuckled, mirthless. "I was going to say the same thing to you."

"Huh?" Connor tensed, getting a whiff of something, something gross like the garbage pail in a sick room. Mixed with it was that funky scent he associated with vampires.

He pulled her close, pulling a stake out of his pocket. She widened her eyes when she saw it. He hoped she thought he was weird walking around with a sharp stick and didn’t think he was some kind of killer or pervert. He wanted to have something deadlier because it wasn’t all vampires in the mix heading their way. Connor cranked his head around trying to plot the best escape route. "Dawn you need to run that direction." He pointed. "I'm not kidding."

"Connor, you have no idea what you're getting into. You don’t know what they are."

He glanced at her. She said that as if she knew what they were facing. Connor didn't have time to contemplate that. The vampires rushed them, and probably the group of tourists heading down the walk with one of the ghost tours. Swearing under his breath, he met the charge, jamming his stake home in the closest one. The unsuspecting vampire was dust before he knew what was happening.

They surged on him. Connor spun, kicked and stabbed as fast as he could. He couldn't let them get to Dawn. He couldn't let the smelly thing get away. He could see it now, tall, antlered and dripping what looked like snot. He nearly gagged at the sight of it and Quor-Toth hadn't gifted him much of a gag reflex. 

Suddenly a blonde woman was at his side, staking a lady vampire who had nearly gotten him from behind. She narrowed her eyes at him as if trying to discern what the hell he was. Connor grabbed the vampire racing up on her side and twisted its neck until it dusted. Through the dust, he saw Dawn still on the sidewalk, her hand held outright. 

"Dawn! You need to get the hell out of here!" he bellowed but then nearly fell on his ass when something like lightning leapt from her fingers and hit snot-antlers. It didn't take it down but it did knock it back several steps.

"What the hell?" Connor asked no one in particular. The blonde had already waded into the middle of the vampire pack. He joined her because she got herself killed but she moved too well for that. What in the hell was going on? 

A vampire went flying past him, head over heels, and another young woman finished staking him. This one he knew.

"Faith!" he cried excited. 

"You know Faith?" Dawn asked as she whipped another bolt at the snotty thing.

He crinkled his brow. "Oh yeah, but how do you?"

"Buffy's another Slayer," Faith said, nodding to the blonde. Well, that explained her moves. "Ready to take on that thing?" She pointed to Snot-Antler.

"What the hell _is_ it?" he asked.

"No clue. I don't even know how you move and fight like a Slayer," Buffy said as Willow joined the fray, throwing a spell that wrapped Snot-Antlers in blue bands.

"Hey, Willow!" he called, happy to see the witch. At least he knew she was good in a fight, though he had no reason to think another Slayer would suck at it.

"Oh, Connor. Never expected to see you here. Anyone know how to slay this thing?" Willow tugged on the blue light bands arching from her fingers to the flailing demon.

"A sword will do. It's a chaos demon," a new voice said.

Connor turned to see his dad racing up the walk with Gunn. "Hey, Angel."

"Angel? What are _you_ doing here?" Dawn asked.

"You know Angel, Dawn? How do you know Angel?" Connor asked, his head figuratively spinning. "Seriously, what the hell?"

"Well, _you_ know Faith," Dawn said, and there was no missing the bitter undertone in that statement.

"Yeah, I do." He cast a glance at Faith and caught Dawn's expression out of the corner of his eye. Damn, he shouldn't have eyed the Slayer because he probably couldn’t hide how he appreciated Faith’s moves. "Anyhow, I didn't come down here strapped with a sword, and I sure as hell don't want to touch that demon bare-handed. It looks like a job for a Slayer."

Faith snort and socked his shoulder. Hard. He refused to wince. "Bite me, brat. You were first on scene. It's your kill."

"Um, no and we better hope the people down here think this is performance art of something." Connor gestured to the tourists still in the area. Why did they never run? Always with the rubber-necking. "Willow? Any magic to handle this?"

"I thought you hated magic." She laughed. "And no, but we should do something before he breaks my spell."

Angel sighed and pulled a sword out from under his coat. "Guess I'll do it."

"Good. I'll move out of snot-sloshing range." Connor said, 

"Is anyone going to tell me what's going on here?" Buffy asked, her expression as confused as he felt.

"Probably ought to wait until we're not filling in everyone in the streets," Dawn said as Angel cut the Chaos demon down. People screamed. Some finally ran.

"Suggestions?" Buffy asked.

"Hey, Connor, I Google Earthed everything before we left. Your place isn't far from here," Gunn said, and Connor winced.

He wasn't ashamed of his choices to be with Dawn but he didn't want everyone to know. He might be twenty but at the moment he felt ten, and like he might be in very big trouble. He also didn't want to explain to Angel why he was living with a girl he just met. Luckily, most of them were too busy watching the chaos demon bubbled and blur into a pile of mucous like everyone in the city had hawked a loogie into the same spot. No one noticed his hesitation or discomfort. "Where are you all parked?" he asked.

Turned out they were all in the same public lot as him so Connor did the only thing he could, lead them to his apartment. He was alone in his car and considered to keep on driving but he wasn't a coward. It slowly occurred to him that Dawn had been looking for hotels not because she was tired of him but rather knew Faith and Willow were in town since she obviously knew them and Buffy too. Hell, she knew more about all of this than she had ever said to him and that was curious enough to help stave off his nervousness.

He let them into the small apartment. With three men and four women there wasn't room to breathe. This had been a dumb idea. "I think a lot of us are going to have to sit on the floor."

"This is pretty much crap," Gunn said, sitting on the floor near the window. 

"What do you want for a cheap rental? So...I'm the one who called in Angel and Gunn but what are you and Willow doing here, Faith?" Connor asked as Faith and Buffy sat on the small convertible couch.

"Dawn called us," Willow said. 

"Um, Connor, I don't think this is your style," Faith interrupted, pulling a bra from between the couch cushions.

"Oh, that's where that went," he said dryly. He could imagine how the rest of this conversation was going to go. He'd never find out why Dawn called in Faith and Willow or how she even knew them. He was going to die of embarrassment. 

Red faced, Dawn grabbed her bra from Faith and stomped into the bathroom.

"Dawn, what? Hey, is that your bag in the corner? What is going...are you kidding me?" Buffy's voice was shrill, and Angel eyed Connor like he was half afraid of Buffy, and half pissed at his son with a smidgen of confusion mixed in. "This was your money-saving rental, Dawn? Where are you even sleeping?"

"Betting on top of skinny ass." Faith jerked a thumb at Connor.

"Not helping, Faith," he grumbled.

"I let you alone for a few weeks...how could you get into a mess this big that fast?" Angel groaned.

"No one needs to hear from you either, Dad." He glared at Angel.

"Dad?" Buffy drew the word out, her face blotchy red as she knifed her gaze between him and Angel.

Dawn poked her face back out from the bathroom. "Did you just call Angel, Dad?"

"Yeah, he's my father."

She stomped back over to him. "That's not possible. He's...well...”

"A vampire? Yeah I know. How do _you_ know?" he asked though it was obvious she knew his father.

"Buffy is my sister,” Dawn replied. “She and Angel used to be together."

"Oh. Ew!" Dawn was sister to a Slayer? Oh, he was _so_ dead.

"Son, don't piss the slayer off more. You're on thinner ice than you know," Angel said softly. "Also, you don't get to comment about my love life."

"If you were a proper vampire and didn't have one, I'd have nothing to comment about.” Connor glanced over at Buffy. “And I think you're on that ice with me."

"Because you won't stop talking." Angel sighed.

"Care to explain _any_ of this, Angel?" Buffy demanded.

"Well, I can't explain Dawn being here but as for the rest." He took a deep breath and started in on Connor’s personal history. Connor went and sat next to Gunn. He didn't know what else to do. Dawn tucked in next to him, putting a hand over his. She didn't look at him, too wrapped up in what Angel was saying.

Finally, Faith got up and raided his fridge. "There's nothing in here but beer and wine coolers."

"There's eggs and bacon!" He protested. "And like a half dozen hamburgers and pizza. What are you looking for?"

"Something to snack on. I'm taking a beer."

"Really? Just beer and pizza?" Angel eyed him, and Connor shrugged. 

"Like you were drinking milk and going to church every day when you were my age."

"Less said about what I did at your age the better."

"Faith, do you mind?" Buffy grumbled. "I'm still working on Angel having a kid with Darla."

"I'll bring you a beer too. Ooo voo doo donuts. That sounds yummy."

"Get out of my donuts, Faith!" Connor groaned.

"Not into sharing?" She cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Not when I had to stand in line nearly an hour for those!"

"So, you stood on line and came away with a chocolate covered cock and balls?" Faith held the offending donut up.

His cheeks blazed. "That's Dawn's. Fight her for it."

"It's full of cream," Dawn said merrily.

"I bet." Faith managed to make that sound like an indecent proposal.

"Eat the Homer, the pink one," Dawn said. "Or Connor's maple bacon bar but keep your mitts off my cock-n-balls."

"Screw that, don't eat my maple bacon bar! Eat that pizza if you're hungry or microwave a burger. I made those from scratch. They’re good."

"Maple bacon? I want that." Gunn unfurled from the floor and joined Faith in going Viking on the donut box. 

"Thanks, Dawn. And here I was going to take you out to the Salt and straw tomorrow." Connor sighed.

"I like that you think you'll still be alive tomorrow," she replied.

"Maple bacon?" Angel questioned. “Really?”

"Angel, focus," Buffy demanded. "You can worry about the fact that your very strange son is eating nothing but beer, donuts and pizza later."

"I don't like that characterization,” Connor huffed.

"And I don't like big secrets," Buffy replied. "I can't believe you and Faith never mentioned Connor to me, Willow."

"Angel wanted us to keep his secret to the point he wiped our memories," Willow shot Angel the hairy eyeball.

"That's because I went Drusilla-level crazy, and he rewrote history to save me," Connor said. "Now I have whole head filled with fake memories."

"You too?" Dawn asked.

"That statement is going to require some further explanation. But first, since you're in my damn fridge, Gunn, bring me a beer." Connor said.

Luckily Gunn didn't argue and neither did Angel. Gunn brought the Guinness can, and gave Connor half the maple bacon bar as he sat back down. "Oh god, this is so wrong and so delicious."

"Right? And I think we're caught up enough, Buffy. Yeah there's more to the story, and you can beat it out of Angel later. I'd love to watch," Connor said, and Angel shot him a wounded look. "But maybe we should get back to the problem at hand like chaos demons and vampires roaming the downtown area."

" _Darla_ ," Buffy hissed to Angel, then settled back on the sofa, staring at hm. "Really?"

"Sounds like you know Mom and don't like her."

"She tried to kill our mother," Dawn said.

"Ah, because that's not the least bit awkward." Connor let his head fall back and bounce off the wall. "Okay, Dawn, I'm sure you've figured it out now that my walks at night weren't because I couldn't sleep. I was trying to protect you from the monsters but it looks like I had the wrong end of the stick there. You have to know something about what's going on since you're sister to a Slayer, and you know magic."

"And I heard you say you don't like magic. Looks like I might not be getting that Honey Lavender ice cream with you tomorrow." She tried to smile but it didn't quite reach her eyes. Dawn seemed so sad.

"I could go for another Strawberry Honey Balsamic with Black Pepper with a scoop of pear blue cheese on top," he replied, trying to look happy but suspected he appeared as sad as she did.

"Are you speaking in tongues now?" Angel asked rubbing his forehead.

"No, he just has freaky tastes. And I was here on a mission," Dawn replied.

"Son of a bitch." Connor slammed his heel down against the floor with an ominous cracking sound. He propelled himself to his feet. "Son of a bitch!"

"Now there's the cranky brat I remember," Faith said, popping a piece of pink donut in her mouth.

Dawn got up. "Connor, what's wrong?"

"Just once I thought..." He shook his head. “It always works out that way doesn't it? I'm always just some means to an end."

"I have no idea what you’re talking about. I was going to say I came here because of the hellmouth. I didn't know about you, if that's what you think. I didn't go out with you because I wanted to know why Angel sent you here. Why would you think that?' She jabbed a finger into his chest. “I’d never do anything like that!”

"Because that's my track record. The other three women who took an interest in me were only interested because they needed something from me," he snarled. "Cordelia was mind-controlled by a hell goddess to have us give birth to her in this world."

"Wait, you had a kid with _Cordy!_ ," Dawn cried.

Connor waved her off violently. "Then Gwen was only with me so she could serve me up to be killed so she could get something she wanted in return, and then Illyria only wanted me because she thought we'd have great kids but once she decided we'd missed her monstrous estrus cycle, told me I was not exactly desirable as a lover."

Dawn caught his hand, pulling him close. "I don't even know what to say to any of that but Connor, I had no idea you weren't just a normal kid any more than you didn't know I wasn't. My only agenda here was I thought you were cute, and you are sweet and kind."

"That's not the brat I remember," Faith mumbled.

"Seriously." Gunn snorted.

"Did all that stuff really happen?" Willow asked, her voice gentle, dragging him back from the building ire at Faith and Gunn’s comments. He nodded, unable to get words past his tight throat.

"And he is sweet. I mean just yesterday he took me back to the Japanese gardens just so I could paint them. That's twice in two days, cost nearly eighty bucks but he didn't say a word. He even suffered through the rose gardens for me too."

"It wasn't that bad. I liked them. The garden was peaceful," he muttered. He shook himself like a wet dog. "All right. So, this mission?"

"I was looking into rumors that a hellmouth was opening here," Dawn replied.

"Hmm, me too. That's exactly why I'm here."

"Did either of you find anything other than what you look like naked?" Faith toasted them with her purloined beer. 

Connor curled his lip at her. "I did."

"Me too!" Dawn protested, pink cheeked.

"Connor, start it off," Angel said hurriedly. Connor knew the look his dad's eye, the one that said he was worried Connor’s wheels were coming off his bus, and if he didn't give it a nudge, an explosion would occur. 

"Okay, for one, there is a lot of chatter in the demon bars about the hellmouth, which as you'd predict, they were excited about except a few who thought that it would be too much, and they wanted out of town. Looks like a group of mages." He snorted derisively. "Magic."

Dawn dug her nails into his hand. "Ethan. One of the local covens think it's Ethan Rayne."

"Means nothing to me," Connor said. "I didn't hear any names."

"Don't worry, it means something to us," Buffy grated out. Connor sure hoped that vicious look was for Ethan and not that her sister was holding his hand.

Dawn sat next to Gunn, pulling Connor down with her. "I'm not sure it _is_ him but that's what they're saying."

"He certainly wouldn't be opposed to trying it, especially if someone was paying him," Willow said.

"I got the idea that it was a paying job. The other most important thing I learned was they wanted some living key to help them," Connor said, and Dawn flinched. He glanced at her curiously.

Buffy jumped up, crossed the room and squatted in front of him so she could make eye contact. "Where did you hear those words?"

"The Demonica. On paper it's a Goth club but it's really a demon club. They probably eat any Goths who stumble in there. Why? What's wrong? I can see it in your eyes. That scared you. You too, Dawn."

As Buffy backed off, Dawn took a deep breath, twisted so she could look at him directly. "Okay, so you're the son of two vampires, something you sort of forgot to mention."

"I don't mention it because it's both gross and most people would think I'm insane," he snapped, and she held up a hand.

"My point is, I wasn't entirely truthful either. Remember me saying something about all the fake memories? Truth is, I'm not exactly all human either," Dawn said, and his chest tightened. "I was written into everyone's memories, including your dad's. I started out as a ball of energy. I'm the living key."

"Well, damn."

Buffy tensed. "Dawn, you're leaving in the morning."

"But Buffy."

"But nothing. If they need you to open the gate, then you can't be here."

"You'll all protect me," she argued. "And I'm learning to protect myself."

"Still..." Buffy put a hand on Dawn's shoulder. "One of us should escort you back to California. Giles is back at the hotel. He could do it."

"He might be better here since he knows how Ethan thinks. Gunn might be a better choice of escort," Angel said. "Connor, was there more?"

"A little but it's supposition. I'd rather hear what Dawn found it first and see if it changes what I'm thinking," he replied.

"Well, I didn't hang out in demon bars for the obvious reasons. I talked to some of the local covens, and they said the same thing, a group of mages. Like I said, I heard Ethan's name." Dawn grimaced. "No one mentioned the key thing or I would have already told you that. That does scare me but I still don't want to leave, Buffy."

"We'll talk," Buffy said. "Anything more?"

"Not from the coven but Deshawn chatted me yesterday, and he said he heard the coven talking about where they want to open the hellmouth to."

"Quor-Toth. I left Giles doing more research. We let Faith drive to get us here even faster after you told us that," Willow said, and Connor exchanged horrified looks with Angel and Gunn.

"Obviously. Deshawn didn't know exactly what they wanted since he's still a kid and was eavesdropping but the coven isn't getting back to me about it. I think they're packing to run. What I do know is they want to summon the Destroyer."

Connor drew in a ragged breath. "Why?"

Dawn shook her head. "No idea but with a name like that, coming from the worst of the hell dimensions you know it can't be good."

"Angel, you might need to hit the demon bars and see...." Buffy trailed off, and then reached out to Angel. "What's wrong? Do you know something?"

Angel hunched his shoulders and looked over at Connor.

Connor shrugged. "Hey, Key?"

"Please don’t...."

"Meet the Destroyer." He wiggled his fingers at her.

"You _have_ to be kidding me," Dawn said, sagging against the wall. 

"It is not even remotely funny," he replied.

"How can that be?" Buffy asked. “How can you be this demon from Quor-Toth they’re after?”

"Did you get overwhelmed when Dad was giving you the down and dirty about my history? I was raised in a hell dimension by a man who hated Angel," Connor said. "That was Quor-Toth."

"But how did you get there and back again?" Willow asked. “It’s supposedly sealed off for good reason.”

"I don't know how I got there but I made the slukhs tell me how to get here. I basically beat a hole in the universe." Connor shrugged.

"I don't...how?" Willow demanded, leaning forward, too curious for his comfort.

"I can be very determined," he assured her. "It put me in good stead when I got sucked into hell a second time."

"I can't believe you're the demon lord of Quor-Toth." Dawn eyed him as if she had never seen him before. 

"Demon lord? That’s new," he said.

"That's what they said. They want the demon lord of Quor-Toth whose legend has lasted centuries," Dawn said.

"Well, time does move differently there," Angel said. “It would have been centuries since you left.”

"Yeah. Huh, wow." Connor had no real words for this.

"Son."

"Yeah, Dad."

"I know it's wrong but I'm absurdly proud of you right now."

Connor chuckled. "Me too! Sort of sad though that the place I worked best was freaking Quor-Toth!"

"You? You were the toughest thing in the worst hell?" Faith eyed him. "I didn't think you were _that_ good when we fought."

"We were _sparring_ , and I didn't want to hurt you. And you cheated that first time," Connor said, irritated. He might admire Faith, but damned if she wasn’t the sand in his oyster most of the time.

"How did I cheat?"

"You jammed a crossbow into my throat. Who brings a crossbow into a hand to hand fight?" He snorted. "And the second time when you were trying to keep me from killing Angelus..."

"You fought damn hard then," she argued. 

"He did but he also didn't really want to kill me, Faith. He was probably just as happy you stopped him that time. I should never have put killing me on his shoulders in the first place," Angel said.

"Maybe, but I also remember you didn't listen well. That’s going to be a problem for this op," Faith said.

He didn't know how to answer that in a way that wouldn't be hurtful. He hadn't thought Faith was going about stalking their prey right at the time. "I grew up in hell, I learned to trust only me. I'm better about that now. to that end, Dawn, did they say what the hell they wanted me for?"

"No, sorry but it can't be for anything good," Dawn said.

"If you want your sister out of here, maybe you should send her back to L.A. with the Destroyer over there. He's more than adequate to protect her, and probably neither of them should be here," Gunn said.

"Unless they know we're on to them, which could be what that chaos demon and vampires were about tonight, and then they might follow me," Connor said.

"And no offense, I really don't want you going anywhere with my sister," Buffy said.

"Oh, how could I _possibly_ take offense to that?"

"Connor," Angel hissed. "He wouldn't hurt Dawn, Buffy, no matter where he was raised."

"Have to back up Angel on that one. When we were in hell, Connor saved hundreds of people," Gunn said. “With very little help. He owned a territory where he kept them all safe.”

"Thanks. Before we send anyone anywhere, can I finish?" Connor asked and Angel waved him on. "Anyhow I was thinking that it would be harder than I first thought to put the hellmouth in the Shanghai tunnels. That’s why I wanted to go back in there to see them yesterday."

"Me too, and I had that same thought," Dawn said. "It's so touristy. A handful of tours go through there daily."

"Exactly and a lot of it is walled up. I mean it's conceivable that parts of it aren't on the tours and can be accessible but you'd really have to know this city to find those areas. Now maybe they are trying it and that's why there was a hoard of vampires and a snot monster - thanks for killing that thing, Dad because I so didn't want to touch it." Connor shuddered "Or maybe they were there because they caught wind of me or Dawn looking into things. But I was thinking about something when Dawn and I were at the Japanese gardens. I would probably like solicitude to open up some big can of magical mischief. I'd chose the Hoyt Arboretum. It's like two miles from downtown so you can get your demon hoards there fast enough but you'd have nearly two hundred acres to hide things in."

"Good thought," Willow said. "I like that idea. We'll look into it but it might have to be tomorrow. After all that driving, I'm about dead."

"Agreed. I can hear my hotel bed calling my name," Faith said.

"I hear that," Gunn said. "We drove just as hard to get here. Well, I did. Angel was napping in the trunk."

"I can go to the demon bars see if I can learn more. You might want to point the way, Connor," Angel said, and he nodded.

"All right. We'll go bring Giles up to date. Come on, Dawn," Buffy got up.

Dawn stood. "But I don't want to go to the hotel. All my stuff is here."

"Gather it up." Buffy sighed. "They want _you_ , Dawn. Humor me. I want you where I can see you. I need to keep you safe."

She bobbed her head. "Okay for tonight." She turned to face Connor. He climbed to his feet. "But before I go, seriously, you can't just say you had a kid with Cordy and drop it."

"Please, I can't talk about that," Connor said, regretting even thinking about it, let alone saying it. He could feel himself sliding down the rabbit hole, and he'd need climbing gear to get back out.

"I'm with Dawn on that," Buffy said.

"Buffy, leave it, I'll tell you later," Angel said, but Connor could see that wasn't going to sway either Summers girl.

"Hear anything about the cult of Jasmine?" Gunn asked, picking up the tale so Connor didn’t have to. Still, he wished he didn’t have to hear this.

"Cult leader supposedly bringing world peace but she disappeared fast," Willow said. 

"She was a hell goddess who used Cordelia and Connor to enter this world." Angel grimaced. "And I hope that's not what the mages and Ethan have in mind for the destroyer and the key."

Connor hunched up at the thought.

"She brought real peace," Gunn said. "But her magic required her to eat humans."

"I...am so sorry I asked," Dawn muttered. 

"But what happened to her?" Buffy asked.

"I killed my daughter," Connor whispered. "It's why I don't want to talk about it."

Angel was suddenly at his side and had an arm around him. Dawn pulled him into a hug and kissed him.

"I'm so sorry." She rested her forehead against his. Her breath caressed his skin.

"It's all right. Maybe it's better everyone knows." It sure didn't feel better.

"Raised in hell, being sent to a different hell, this thing with Cordy, being the child of vampires, you’re what my grandmother would have called a Shlimazl," Willow said. He shot her a look. "Yiddish for a very unlucky person."

Connor snorted. "When your parents are monsters, unlucky is the best you can hope for." He held up his hands. "I know, Angel isn’t a monster but we all know Angelus is, so the less said about the whole night of conception thing the better."

"I was going to ask about the motivation behind sleeping with Darla, but no kid needs to hear details about their parents having sex." Buffy eyed Angel. "We'll discuss that in private."

Connor expected Angel to protest but he didn't. Connor stepped away from his father and Dawn before saying. "Where are you and Gunn staying?"

"The hotel isn’t far," Gunn said.

"And I should stay with you, Connor" Angel said. "In case they know where you are and come for you."

Shaking his head, Connor stuck up a finger. "One, you’re not any better with magic than me. I'd be better off with Dawn."

"Not happening," Buffy said.

Connor ignored her. "And two, Buffy and Willow are sitting on the only bed."

"Regretting that now,” Willow mumbled, eyeing the cushion as if expecting she was in the middle of a biologic stain. 

"My point is, it's not that big of a bed ,and I am _not_ sleeping with you, Dad. I'd say go sleep in the tub since there are no windows in there but that will just make it awkward when I have to pee."

"It's already awkward," Gunn said.

"And I'll be out all night while you sleep. I can take the bed in the day," Angel said.

"Tub, and still go back to your hotel. Or the trunk or something that’s not here."

Angel slotted his eyes. "You'll probably be with the ladies in the day discussing plans of attack. You won't even know I'm here."

"I'll be able to smell you on the mattress."

"Not if I pop you in the nose." 

"Nice Dad. Fine. Go to the hotel."

"You might want to head out ladies. These arguments tend to last all night." Gunn said.

"Behave Connor." Dawn pulled him to her again. "I'll see you tomorrow." She kissed him, then grabbed her pack so she could go with her sister.

Connor sighed. "Come on, Dad. I'll show you where the demon bars are. Maybe your face will get them talking more than I could manage."

"Nice," Faith snorted.

"No, I mean, well, his vamp face fits in. This is my only face. I look like food."

"You look like Darla," Buffy countered.

"That he does. And you have a point, Connor. Let's go," Angel said.

Buffy eyed him. "No demonic visage. No fangs or claws?"

"Nope. Boring that way," Connor replied.

"He's basically like a male Slayer to be honest," Angel said. "Before Wes passed, he was wondering if Connor was like the First Slayer."

"Oh, when this is done, I'd love to talk to you about that." Willow’s eyes brightened.

"Later Willow. Poor Connor's had enough for one night." Dawn linked arms with her friend, hauling her toward the door.

"Good night ladies. Gunn, go get some sleep. I'll show Dad where I was investigating and get some rest myself," Connor said knowing he wouldn't. He'd be thinking of Cordelia and Jasmine, of Dawn's absence. He'd be worrying about what Buffy would do or say.

The others left, and Angel clamped a hand on Connor's shoulder. "You survived the night. I'm amazed. I thought for sure Buffy was going to stake you."

"You're next on the stake to the chest list," Connor replied. "I really like Dawn, Dad."

"I should hope so given the circumstances." Angel sighed. "We'll worry about it in the morning. For now, let's get out there. Hopefully we can get this dealt with fast, and then we can work on keeping you from becoming Slayer fodder."

Connor rolled his eyes. "Come on. the first bar isn't far."

To Be Continued (Hopefully it'll be done by the end of the weekend. It got a little long on me!)


	4. Dawn

Chapter Four - Dawn

Dawn rubbed her eyes as she shut one of the books Giles had toted along. She was tired but honestly, the night had gone better than she expected. Maybe Buffy was too tired to say much or realized she had little room to talk. Dawn was older than Buffy had been when she first got involved with Angel. Of course, it was more than a little awkward that Connor was Angel's kid. Dawn still couldn't wrap her head around that one. Connor had seemed so ordinary but then again, so did she. There was nothing ordinary about either of them.

Buffy and Willow hadn't lectured her much. Giles wisely stayed out of it. Faith asked for details that Dawn refused to give. She had slept some at least, and the morning had been deceptively quiet, mostly her, Willow and Giles studying the books while Buffy and Faith caught up on their rest.

Connor and Gunn had sneaked Angel over to the hotel after noon, thanks to heavy blankets and covered hotel drive ups. They'd drawn the curtains in Giles's room since that's where the books lived, and at this point everyone was in the room making it as tight as that little apartment of Connor's. She still thought they should have gone there instead but Buffy seemed to be of the mind the less said about the apartment the better. At least Connor had brought a peace offering: buffaloed fried chicken tender sandwiches with blue cheese dressing, all of which he'd made himself. If he kept cooking this good, Dawn was keeping him.

"It's fascinating," Giles said, wiping his hands, having polished off his sandwich. "This makes sense of everything that went on in San Diego."

"What does?" Dawn asked. "Is this hellmouth thing somehow related?"

"No, the miracle child that the Ul-Thar followers wanted," Giles said.

"Oh, did you run into those guys?" Angel asked, and Buffy nodded. 

"About thirty of them in San Diego. I never thought about vampires being so organized and doing the group work stuff. They're usually more lone wolfy," Buffy replied. "You know about Ul-Thar?"

Angel jerked a thumb at Connor. "Miracle child."

Connor waved. "Did you ruin my chances at being worshipped?"

Buffy slotted her eyes. "Very ruined. Really? A miracle?"

"Think about it, Buffy," Giles said, and she rolled her eyes. "His birth is nothing short of miraculous."

"And the pregnancy was protected. Nothing could hurt Darla or Connor when he was still in utero," Angel added. 

"See, fascinating. Once this business is concluded, I'd like to study this in more detail." Giles peered closely at Connor as if he could see straight into him. Dawn wanted to remind Giles Connor wasn’t a science experiment.

"Do you mean talk?" Connor asked, obviously suspicious. "Because the last people this excited to learn about me wanted to dissect me."

Dawn tapped him on the shoulder. "Giles would never dissect you."

"Wolfram and Hart wanted to," he countered. 

"No dissection," Giles assured him. 

“Wait, Wolfram and Hart wanted to dissect you, and Angel still trusted them to arrange for that whole rewrite your life -memory wipe spell?” Dawn couldn’t keep the shrill out of her voice. She eyed Angel like he’d gone stupid.

“I didn’t give him a lot of time to think, and…some days I’m not so sure about his deep thinking skills,” Connor replied, and Angel glared.

“I don’t get what Wolfram and Hart gets out of all of this,” Faith said, trailing a finger through some blue cheese dripped onto their plate.

“Me.”

“How so? You were placed with a family and sent off to college right,” Dawn said.

“Guess what my major was,” he said.

A strange expression crossed Angel’s face making Dawn wonder if he had never considered it before. Realization sparked in her brain. “Oh…pre-law.”

“Bingo. As I was before the spell, they had little prayer of getting hold of me. I’m not exactly helpless. I was a physical threat to them, and Angel and his team even more so. But this way, the team forgets me. Angel agreed to stay out of my life. And me, I’m this mind-wiped pawn who suddenly thinks he’s part of a great loving family, complete with a head full of appropriate memories to prove it. I have no idea how much power I possess so we’re all very lucky I didn’t get into a frat house brawl and accidentally kill someone.” Connor tossed a withering look his father’s way. “I’m pre-law, and in the good things about the spell column, they’ve filled my head with all sorts of knowledge I never had, and apparently I’m not stupid. I did great in school, at Stanford no less. In a few years they would have given me a plum internship, and when I get out of law school, Wolfram and Hart would be there with a fantastic contract. I sign on the dotted line, and they own me without lifting a finger. From what I understand about those contracts, I will be theirs to do whatever they want with me even after death.”

“Angel? Is that true? I mean Faith was really surprised when she heard you were working with Wolfram and Hart,” Buffy said. “We weren’t sure what to make of it.”

“I didn’t sign that sort of contract. Gunn’s …well, it didn’t extend after death. Wes’s did.” He sighed. “It was a bad situation all around, and we were working to stop them from the inside but it didn’t seem anyone of your team believed us.”

Dawn drew a ragged breath. She’d wondered if and when the Slayers not helping in L.A. would come up.

“We had reports from Andrew,” Buffy started to say.

Angel put up a hand. “It’s in the past, Buffy. But let’s not bring him up. He caused a lot of pain for me and Spike, and we can leave it there. Connor’s right, I didn’t think things through but there wasn’t an opportunity to do so.”

“That is true. My mental break was pretty severe,” Connor said then turned to Buffy as if her approval might be lost – if he even had it – “Right after I had to destroy Jasmine.”

“I can’t even imagine,” Buffy said.

“So yeah, Dad didn’t have a lot of choices and good things did come from it. I’m not sure what my long term survival would have been given my education was limited to basic reading and some math. Gunn and Fred had done a lot of thankless work with me when Angel was gone.”

“Under the ocean thanks to you,” Buffy said bitterly and Dawn wanted to nudge her hard.

“Yeah well that was what I came here to do.” Connor shrugged. “A lifetime of being groomed to kill him was too hard to overcome. It was a mistake. Anyhow, at least now I know things and I don’t have Gunn telling me rats aren’t food which I still contest.”

“Not something to say after you just fed us lunch _you_ made,” Dawn said.

“Relax it was chicken, I saw him cook it,” Angel said.

“And we don’t have to have a third conversation about toilets not being wells to drink from,” Gunn said. 

“Eww.” Dawn shuddered. “It took more than once?”

“I had no idea what you were meant to do with the damn things. Quor-Toth’s tech level is about the Middle Ages.”

“Oh, good to know. I have a thousand questions about Quor-Toth,” Giles said.

“I’m sure. I will say toilet paper might be one of my favorite inventions you all have here. Electricity tops the list though. It was hard because everyone expected me to know these things and I didn’t. You want me to cook? Make my own clothing? Forge a weapon? I was good. Understanding TVs weren’t magic took a bit of doing.” Connor sighed. “But that’s not helping right now is it?”

“No. We need to get back on point,” Buffy replied.

Connor beckoned Dawn to follow him into a corner. "There’s a lot of tension," he whispered. "Is it because of me?"

She shook her head. "It's fine. We're all just tired."

"Anything I can do to help? I feel useless here."

"Have you been to the arboretum?" Dawn had a thought. "We hadn't gone so I don't know it at all."

"I've been there only once. There are plenty of trails, most were very isolated. I don't know how many visitors the place gets but there were many parts of it I felt like the only human on the planet," Connor replied "And that was on the designated trails. I’m following your train of thought here, Dawn. That would be a good place to set up a hellmouth. I'm not sure how well patrolled it is or how easy it would be to go off trail and set this up. I'm betting it's possible."

Giles wrinkled his nose. "Ethan is many things but he's not into nature. He's more of a city boy than the ladies, and I'm pretty sure Buffy and Faith would agree they're not country girls."

"True," Buffy said. "But would Ethan be doing this for himself?"

Giles's eyes turned so sad Dawn wanted to hug him. "I doubt it. Ethan likes living in the world. To be unleashing hell upon it, either someone is forcing him or paid him so much that he thinks whatever the end game is, it won't touch him."

"I'm betting on the latter," buffy said.

Giles nodded. "I'm forced to agree."

"But what could they possibly want?" Dawn sat on the edge of the bed. "Angel, did you hear anything?"

"Nothing much I'm afraid. Not why they would do it. It's anyone's guess what they hope to gain."

"I've been thinking about that most of the night instead of you know, sleeping." Connor shrugged. "Nothing good could possibly come of inviting Quor-Toth here. Trust me when I say most of humanity wouldn't stand a chance. But on the other hand, I'm not sure what the hell Quor-Toth has that anyone would want. Granted literally hundreds if not thousands of years have passed over there. Maybe their technology has advanced but I'm doubtful. They weren't really science orientated. That's why I put in a call to Spike. He should be Skyping us soon."

Willow let out a bark of laughter. "Are you kidding me? Did you manage to train a vampire how to use technology?"

"Not well. If Spike uses a laptop like Dad uses his cellphone, the thing is probably already lost or broken."

"Hey!"

"Truth, and you know it. You don't even know what Skype is," Connor countered, and Angel slumped his shoulders.

"I'm not sure I do,” Giles said.

"It came out a couple years ago," Willow said. "It basically lets you use your laptop's microphone and camera to turn into a view screen telephone like the Jetsons."

"Oh...that is almost disturbing." Giles scowled. "But what do you think Spike knows?"

"Nothing really but Illyria might, and they're traveling together," Connor replied. "Because something doesn't make sense to me. Why do they want Dawn?"

"I can open the gateway, or so they think," Dawn said, shuddering a little. 

"Yes but, and no offense, hon, you’re not actually necessary to open a gateway to Quor-Toth. I don't know how it’s done but I bet Angel does since he was there the first time. So either they're playing from a book that's wrong or there is something we don't know yet. Maybe they want you to open and link up more than one place or can be used to move something large through dimensions. I have no idea. It’s probably something we want to find out about before it’s too late. I hate to say it but Buffy might be right. You probably should be elsewhere...like Maine or something, and you and I probably shouldn't be in the same place for a while."

"I hate that idea," Dawn sighed, putting her hand on his shoulder. "I have to agree though. Maybe we should call Xander up here so no one with battle skills has to shuttle me out or put me on a plane or something."

"We'll discuss it. We haven't learned what they want with you, either, Connor," Buffy replied.

"That's probably more obvious unless you can think of another use for ‘the bringer of pain and torment, the destroyer’ besides, you know, me destroying stuff," Connor said wryly, and Dawn shut her eyes. His smart mouth was probably going to get him taken out by a Slayer, and her sister might even enjoy it. Faith too for that matter. Also, what was with that title?

"Um, I thought Dawn said the demon Lord. What’s with the rest?" Willow twisted her mouth into a moue.

"It’s my actual title in Quor-Toth. What? Did you think I conquered the worst hell realm by baking them cakes?" 

"Angel, did Spike teach him to be a smart ass, or is that natural?" Faith asked.

Angel snorted. "Sadly natural. But Connor's right. But as far as we know the mages have no idea what the Destroyer looks like."

"Right. I could see it in your eyes, Dawn. You were expecting something demonic but you got me. No fangs, claws or venom. I'm nonthreatening in appearance."

"Exceeding," Faith agreed.

"I get it. They're expecting something like the Mayor dragged into existence," Dawn said. Connor shot her a questioning look but she didn't explain. There would be time later. "They have no idea you're unlikely to help them."

"They’re going to be shocked when they see you're just a kid," Faith said.

"Which could work for us," Giles said. "But not if we don't get more information. It's good that we know now what they're looking for, and that Ethan might be alone but we don't know how many are involved nor what they want."

Connor's laptop made the Skype noise, drawing Dawn’s attention. She had used Skype a few times with Willow herself so she knew the sound. "Let me get this and see what Spike knows."

"I'm not sure why you think he'd know anything," Gunn said.

"Like I said, I don't. Illyria on the other hand might and she's and Spike are joined at the hip, maybe literally."

"Is she his new girlfriend?" Dawn asked, not entirely sure why she did. Yes she once had a crush on him but that was long over. She wasn't so sure Buffy was over him though, and deserved to know if Spike had moved on.

"Maybe. I really don't want to know. She calls him her pet, as in dog, but it's probably more. It usually is with Spike," Connor replied, opening his laptop.

"Connor," Angel said lowly in warning.

"What? It _is_. I had to see his whole Hugh Hefner routine with his rotating harem of scantily dressed women when we were in hell but right, you were busy ignoring us then, so you don’t know!" Connor replied sharply. Angel sighed, his head drooping. Dawn assumed there was another painful and long story attached to that.

"A harem?" Buffy asked, eyes large and face red. Dawn hoped sharing that news wouldn't be the thing that killed Connor.

"Don't want to talk about it. How many times did I have to see him in his silk boxers?" Connor shuddered.

"Connor." This time Angel's warning was louder, drawing his son's attention.

"Buffy used to be with Spike too," Dawn said softly.

Connor looked over his shoulder at her. "Oh, ew. Again, ew. I don't want to hear about me and Dawn after this. At least I have a pulse."

"Not for long if you don't stop talking," Angel hissed, shoving his son.

"Hey, am I doing this right?" Spike’s voice issued out of the computer.

"No, all I see is neck. Push the laptop back a little and center yourself in front of the camera," Connor said. "There, better."

"So what's up, kiddo? I know you didn't call me just because you missed me."

Connor snorted. "Hardly."

"I thought Peaches sent you north to see the world and scam on hippie artist chicks that the North West has in abundance."

"That he did, and I wouldn't call it scamming on her but I did find a girl."

"No way. It's not another girl whose touch will kill you again, is it? Because even a skinny butt like you can do better."

"Oh like you get to call me skinny."

Dawn dropped into frame nestling her chin on Connor’s shoulder. "Hi, Spike."

Spike's face lit up. "Hey, Li'l bit! What in the world are you doing with the brat?"

"She's the girl." Connor grinned.

"What? There is no way you're touching my Dawnie!" Spike roared, and he kept on going like an overprotective brother until both Dawn and Connor were snickering at him.

"And you don't get a say in who Connor sees," Angel called.

"What the...is Peaches there? Why is he there?" Spike asked.

"Because of the other thing I'm doing here, Dawn too for that matter. Someone is trying to open a hellmouth to Quor-Toth here in Portland using the Destroyer and the Key."

"And you two are just hanging out there together. Sounds like a bad idea."

"No kidding. That's what I wanted to know, have you or more likely Illyria any idea why Ethan Rayne would want to open that hellmouth?" Connor asked

"No. Hey Blue, get over here," Spike called. "And do you know what the Slayer is going to do when she learns you're getting your end away with her little sis?"

"She already knows," Buffy said.

"Wait, Buffy's there too? With the Poof?” Spike growled.

"We're all here. It's a party," Dawn said. "Be nice, Spike."

"Seriously," Buffy added, dragging Angel half into frame. "Faith's here too now before we climb through this screen and knock sense into you, think you can help?"

"I'm trying to get Blue over here. And why are you...Brat, what did you tell Buffy?"

"That the worst thing in hell was you in your boxers with the little hearts all over them. I didn't even mention the whole thing with that Watcher." Connor smirked.

"Why does he never shut up?" Buffy asked Angel.

Angel shrugged. "He has a death wish, seriously." 

"Buffy, you shouldn't listen to the brat," Spike said, and Connor covered up the camera with a finger. 

"You can talk to Buffy and Dawn after you get Illyria here to talk."

"You're worse than your old man," Spike whined, and Connor let his hand drop. "Here, look right here, Blue."

Illyria's face loomed close to the camera. "My pet summoned me. Oh, it is you. Is there something you need?"

"Would you have any idea why a group of mages would want to open a portal to Quor-Toth using a living key, and what would they want with the Destroyer? I thought maybe with your ability to see various futures you'd have some insight,” Connor said.

"I have not seen that scenario. I can look for the possibility of it. I do not like the sounds of this. It could be a threat to my kingdom. This one knows how to find you?" She poked Spike.

"He knows. Whatever you can find out," Connor replied.

Illyria pursed her blue lips, mulling the problem over. "You are still evolving. That is an attractive trait to many. Maybe they desire your seed as you will make powerful babies."

Connor flushed, and Dawn nudged him gently. 

"Who is that one?" Illyria demanded to know. Dawn stared into those icy blue eyes, glad she was somewhere else in the world and that she couldn't reach through a computer screen. 

"My girlfriend," Connor said.

"You are still _mine_ when I am next at peak fertility," Illyria proclaimed, poking a finger into the view screen.

"Talk to me then," Connor replied, making Dawn stare, stunned.

"Go on, Blue. Go see if you can peer into this and figure out why they would want him and Li'l bit, and the answer had better not have to do with his little swimmers." Spike pushed Illyria out of view. "Seriously Dawn, you can do better. He's a rough one."

"Okay just for that, you can talk to Dawn and Buffy a different day." Connor hovered his finger over the disconnect button.

"You're an ass, Uncle."

"Be a better nephew."

Dawn pushed Connor out of his seat before he could disconnect Skype, and waved Buffy over. "We'll talk a few minutes but we do have to go. I need to know how much danger I'm in."

She and Buffy talked to Spike, only briefly as he didn’t have information that was helpful, and as hard as she pretended she wasn’t worried about this, Dawn knew she couldn’t keep up the façade for long. She would have to try this on her own later, provided Spike hadn’t lost or destroyed the laptop he had gotten…no, she probably didn’t want to know where it came from. 

She rounded on Connor. “Talk to me then, Illyria?” She arched her eyebrows.

Connor shrugged. “Illyria’s next heat cycle isn’t for a thousand years. You’ll be tired of me by then.” 

“A thou….are you immortal?” Dawn’s voice shook a little. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Faith and Buffy openly stared at him. Giles looked so fascinated Dawn was shocked he didn’t grow Spock ears.

"Illyria certainly thinks so.” Connor grimaced. “I'm not exactly excited about it."

Dawn sighed. "I know how you feel. I might be immortal as well, seeing as I'm technically a ball of energy."

"Want to not grow old together?" He grinned.

Dawn slipped an arm around him. "It does have an allure."

Buffy cleared her throat. "I'm more concerned with why Spike, of all people, thinks you're rough."

"That's not exactly what he meant," Connor said, turning a curious shade of red.

"Buffy, he meant Connor is as strong as vampire or...a Slayer," Angel said, packing meaning into the words. 

Buffy turned the same shade as Connor, and as hot as Dawn's face felt so had she. "Oh."

"Yeah," Connor pulled a long face. "I have to be careful, and I am. I could easily hurt Dawn but I know that. I try to be gentle."

Buffy nodded. "I've had normal boyfriends. It's not easy to keep them safe."

Dawn put a hand over Connor's. "He's not rough." She so didn't want to talk about this with an audience.

"Strong as a Slayer?" Faith swept a critical gaze over Connor. "I might have to rent him from you every so often, Dawn."

"Faith!" Angel cried.

Dawn had no intentions of sharing Connor with her but it also served to break tension. "How much?"

Connor slowly turned to look at her with eyes wide. "Are you pimping me out to Slayers?"

"Actually there are many legal-aged Slayers," Dawn said with a laugh. "It could make a nice little nest-egg for me."

He snorted. "How much of this do I get?"

"You get laid," Faith said. "Is that not enough?"

"I have rent to pay."

"You are _not_ going into your mother’s family business," Angel said. "No renting my son, Faith, and no renting him out, Dawn. Shall we get back on topic?"

"Actually I think I might have something here," Willow said. 

"Oh?" Giles turned to her. 

__"Just got a message from Deshawn's mother, Loretta. She's part of the local coven, and they are pulling out of town," Willow replied. "She had more info on the mages. There are a half dozen of them, which is really bad news."_ _

__Connor made a disgusted noise. Dawn didn't blame him for that. That made her blood go icy._ _

__"We have had better news," Giles agreed._ _

__"She says what they heard is they want the evolving hell god to lead them to a throne in the dark realm." Willow canted her gaze to Connor._ _

__Dawn's mouth turned to Death Valley, arid and uncomfortable. She touched Connor's arm but he didn't look at her. "What does that mean, Willow?"_ _

__"Yeah hell god is a big upgrade from demon lord," Faith said, staring a hole in Connor._ _

__"Wishful thinking," Willow fought to sound hopeful._ _

__"I'm evolving," Connor whispered._ _

__"Connor, just because some mages think that, doesn't mean you're going to turn into another Glory," Dawn said._ _

__At that, he did look at her. "Who?"_ _

__"Glory, the hell goddess who wanted to use me as a key." She swallowed hard. "Would have killed me. You're not like that."_ _

__"My daughter _was_ a hell goddess," he said, his voice terrifying flat. It made Angel tense. "And it wasn't a question. I _am_ evolving. How could they know that?"_ _

__"But not into a hell god," Angel protested. "Connor, you know that. Tell me you know that."_ _

__"No one knows what I am, Angel, and _you_ know that." Connor's chest heaved. "But I'm not some horrible devil."_ _

__"You were strong but there was nothing that special about you," Faith said._ _

__Connor shook his head. "I'm not what I was then, Faith."_ _

__"His new abilities are hell on demons. I can say that much," Gunn put in._ _

__"It reminded me of the abilities the Powers the Be gifted Cordelia," Angel added but there was something in his voice that triggered a case of nerves in Dawn. Angel sounded anxious to her._ _

__"But where they really from the Powers?" Willow asked._ _

__Angel spread his hands. "That's what we were told. I'm not sure we'll ever know, but I know my son. Quor-Toth left its mark," Angel said but Connor didn't react, closed off like a statue. "But somehow even there Holtz raised him to help people and destroy demons. Those mages are going to be sorely disappointed if they think they can make him do something that evil."_ _

__Dawn wrapped an arm around Connor's shoulder giving him a gentle shake. "Are you okay?"_ _

__"No, not really," he said in a threadbare whisper._ _

__"I know it probably won't help, but I don't think you'll end up their pawn or do anything intentionally evil. And I get it, I really do." Dawn paused as he turned his face toward her. "It's not like I'm fluffy bunnies either. I'm a key to hell dimensions, after all."_ _

__His face scrunched up. "I'm sorry."_ _

__"So I get it. For the most part, you feel like everyone sees you for you but then something crops up to remind everyone, you aren't normal. You aren't all human. You're really weird as hell, and it feels like everyone is staring at you."_ _

__Connor shut his eyes and tugged her closer with one arm. She rested her head on his shoulder. "That's exactly how I feel."_ _

__She stroked his hair out of his eyes, aware of how quiet the group had gotten. Dawn glanced at her sister, seeing something ill-defined but soft in her expression._ _

__"So I don't for one second think we have to worry about what happens if they somehow get a hold of you. It's me I..." Dawn broke off. "You see, for Glory to use me, I had to bleed to open the gate. It would have killed me."_ _

__He took her hand. "I'm not going to let that happen. No one here will. Is now a good time to get you the hell out of here? Do they even know you're who they're looking for?"_ _

__"Not that we know," Buffy said. "And yes, it's time. Honestly, watching you with Dawn, I'd send you two off together. You’d protect her but if they somehow do overpower you, and then they'll have both people they want most. It's better you go in opposite directions."_ _

__Connor nodded. "I know that it would probably be sensible for me to go too but if they do somehow find another way into Quor-Toth, you might need me."_ _

__"Or we might not," Faith said. "We're pretty good at what we do."_ _

__"I'm not debating that but I know the realm, and I know what can come out of it. I mean, that's what a Watcher does, right? Giles and Willow's role are to do the research and tell you Slayers what you're up against, what the strengths and weaknesses are of the various demons?"_ _

__"Exactly," Giles replied. "Willow and I have an advantage of knowing some magic as well. Willow is especially talented."_ _

__"Yeah. I’ve seen that. But do any of you know anything about Quor-Toth?"_ _

__Giles shook his head, and Willow replied, "Not nearly enough. Maybe you should stay."_ _

__"Man, this is heavy. I could use a drink." Faith plucked the ice bucket off the dresser and thrust it at Connor. "Get us some ice."_ _

__He stared at it. "Is this to get me out of the room?"_ _

__"Yeah so go get the ice."_ _

__He snorted, snatched it away and slammed his way out of the room. Dawn watched him go._ _

__“Giles, if you ever wanted me punished for what I did to Jenny, losing my son and having him raised by Daniel Holtz was worse than what the gypsies did to me in the first place,” Angel said softly._ _

__No one had anything to say to that. Desperate to put distance between herself and that pain, Dawn turned to Faith. "What do you want him to go for?"_ _

__

__"Because I have an important question more for Gunn than anyone. I know Angel says Connor will be all right but he's biased. So, Gunn, is he going to listen to us? Or are we going to have to worry about him?" Faith asked._ _

__"Faith," Dawn protested._ _

__"You don't know what he's like in the field," Faith said, and Dawn couldn't counter that but it didn't seem fair to talk about him behind his back even though he knew it was happening._ _

__"Listen? Hell no. He'll expect you to follow his lead, and if this comes down to crap from Quor-Toth spilling into our world, I plan to do just that. The kid’s intense but he's good, Faith, and if you're asking do we have to worry about him going to the dark side, no, I don't think so. He had plenty of opportunity to do that when we were in hell. He could have been a king but he did all he could to save as many humans as he could." A strange expression fluttered over Gunn's face. Dawn bet there was more to the story but they weren't getting it today._ _

__"But he did really choose to do the right thing when he had to make the hard choice between everyone and his child? Did you actually see him kill her or did he let her go and tell you he did the right thing?" Faith asked, horrifying Dawn._ _

__"He put his fist through her head in front of me," Angel said, his voice a raw growl. "Trust me she's dead."_ _

__Faith shrank back. Dawn covered her mouth, tears springing to her eyes. Buffy rested a hand on Dawn's shoulder._ _

__"He can hit that hard," Faith whispered. "I sparred with him."_ _

__"He knows his strength, and like you said, he was sparring and studying how you fight," Angel said. “He’ll know how you fight, Faith so use that.”_ _

__"If he's not good at listening, how do you propose we do this? I can't have him running around doing his own thing," Buffy said._ _

__"He sure as hell didn't listen to me," Faith replied._ _

__"Did you make suggestions or demand him to do it?" Dawn asked. "You and Buffy have a habit of coming in like generals and ordering everyone around." She grimaced mostly because she shouldn't have brought up the bad memories. The Potentials throwing Buffy out of the house - not to mention her, Willow and Faith's roles in that nightmare - was just ugly._ _

__"Honestly, ordering Connor around is the fastest way to get him to do nothing you want," Angel agreed. "But he butts heads less with women."_ _

__"And he likes you, Faith, and obviously cares about Dawn," Gunn put in._ _

__Faith snorted. "He doesn't seem to like me much."_ _

__"Not true, the whole time you were under the influence of Orpheus he sat with you." Gunn shrugged. "We thought you were dying, and he didn't want you to die alone. Also I think he pretty much enjoyed you kicking his butt. Sorry Dawn."_ _

__"Sounds like I'm going to have to learn some fight moves," she said, trying to lighten the mood but failed._ _

__"So we'll have Buffy or Faith ask nicely," Willow said._ _

__"Should work because the only guy I've seen him listen to is Spike," Gunn said. "He likes Spike."_ _

__"Yeah that I haven't figure out," Angel replied._ _

__"I don't like Spike per se. He _is_ a vampire, after all," Connor said from the doorway. He thrust the ice bucket at Faith. "He's the only one who doesn't treat me like a child who doesn't know what end of the sword to grab."_ _

__The room fell silent. Gunn broke it with, "He's the only one on the team who doesn't remember you as a baby."_ _

__"Fair enough. So you done talking about me?"_ _

__"No, we're trying to decide how to handle this, and how to work as a team," Buffy replied._ _

__"What did you two tell her about me? That I'm hard to get along with?" Connor growled._ _

__“It was Faith." Gunn pointed to her._ _

__Connor wrinkled his nose. "Okay, look, I’m happy to listen to ideas because honestly I have none. I'm not good with magic, and I know it. Too bad we don't at least know who we're up against and have a scent object. We could track them and get them unawares."_ _

__"Can vampires _do_ that?" Faith's eyes widened. _ _

__Connor looked to Giles and asked, "Do they never listen to the intel you give them, Mr. Giles?"_ _

__Giles chuckled, then flushed. "Only sometimes."_ _

__"And he's just Giles. You don't need the mister," Willow said._ _

__"Do you have an actual name?"_ _

__"Rupert but she's right. They just call me Giles."_ _

__"Like Gunn, your surname is cooler," Connor said, and Gunn slapped his shoulder lightly._ _

__"And yeah, Dad and I can track like that," Connor said, and Dawn made a face._ _

__"Maybe but that doesn't make you in charge." Faith pointed a finger at him. "Buffy and I have seniority."_ _

__"Wait, you can track me by _smell _?" Dawn asked. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Buffy seemed equally disturbed.___ _

____"I could probably follow you all over town."_ _ _ _

____"How do you learn to do something that...gross?" She shuddered._ _ _ _

____"Father taught me."_ _ _ _

____Buffy's brow knit. "I thought Angel didn't have you in his life to teach you anything."_ _ _ _

____"A quick code to help decipher Connor's three lives. He called me Angel or Dad. Dad could be Reilley too. But Father as a title always means Holtz," Angel said._ _ _ _

____"But isn’t that a little...."Buffy trailed off._ _ _ _

____"Insulting," Faith supplied, and off Connor's expression, Dawn wanted to kick her._ _ _ _

____"Whether or not I like it, Holtz was his only parent for nearly two decades of Connor's life. He was Connor's father in all the ways that matter."_ _ _ _

____The pain in Angel's voice made Dawn want to weep._ _ _ _

____"His method of teaching Connor to track I do take acceptation to," Angel continued._ _ _ _

____"It was a game. It was fun. We played hide and seek," Connor protested._ _ _ _

____"How is that objectionable?" Giles aside._ _ _ _

____"Tell them how you played the game, Connor."_ _ _ _

____"He'd tie me to a tree and run off. I'd have to free myself and find him." Connor shrugged._ _ _ _

____"That is not how that game is played," Dawn whispered, disturbed more by Connor’s lack of horror at it._ _ _ _

____"He left you alone in hell?" Giles asked. "How old were you?"_ _ _ _

____"You sound like Angel. We didn't do birthdays. I literally have no idea how old I am or even when I was born," Connor replied._ _ _ _

____"November Nineteenth, just like you think," Angel said._ _ _ _

____"If I had to guess I was five or six," Connor said, stealing Dawn's breath away._ _ _ _

____"But...who does this? Who leaves a child that young alone in a place like that?" Buffy hissed._ _ _ _

____"I had to learn to fight to survive that place. I was probably three the first time I held a knife. By five, I was killing the small things. Mostly we ran in those days but if I had to, I killed the things I could. So really, Faith, when it comes to battle, you don't have seniority on me. Only Angel does. I've been fighting so long, my entire life." Connor sighed, his eyes shutting. "That's what the spell was for, the one that took your memories. It was to give me a peaceful life. It failed."_ _ _ _

____"I'm sorry," Buffy said._ _ _ _

____Connor opened his eyes. "Me too. But if you insist on me taking your and Buffy’s lead, fine. So, why don't we see what we can come up with all together?"_ _ _ _

____Before anyone could respond, a phone started ringing. It took Angel a few seconds to realize it was his. "Angel," he said into the phone, annoyed looking but his eyes widened. "Damn, thanks! Giles, turn on the TV to the local news." Angel pocketed the phone as Giles did so._ _ _ _

____When he found the station Dawn stared in even more horror seeing a fire at her and Connor's apartment. "Oh god!" she cried._ _ _ _

____“My place! Damn it, did anyone get killed? Did they do this because of me?” Connor snarled._ _ _ _

____"It gets worse. They know Dawn is the key, and they know she's here," Angel said. "That was one of the demons I made contact with last night. He didn't want to tell Connor because, and I quote, don't hit me son, he wasn't sure if Connor wasn't just a really boyish Slayer."_ _ _ _

____"Dammit," Connor grated out._ _ _ _

____"And you're right. They're trying to open the hellmouth in the arboretum but he doesn't know where. They're already looking for Dawn and obviously were pissed when they didn't find her at the apartment."_ _ _ _

____"It's probably too late to get me out of town then," Dawn said, not exactly regretting it but nervous all the same._ _ _ _

____Buffy sighed. "Whatever we come up with, we better do it fast. Giles, you know Ethan best. Ideas?"_ _ _ _

____Dawn listened to them plan hoping it would be enough, that they could still stop this. She wasn't ready for hell on earth if they couldn't.  
 _ _ _ _


	5. Connor

Chapter Five 

Connor exited his car at the arboretum, though Angel had insisted on driving it. Giles pulled up with Buffy and Willow. Faith had ridden with him and Angel. He was surprised they could even drive up, expecting after-hours barricades. Gunn had started back to LA immediately with Dawn in Angel's car. He missed her already but it was better she was out of reach. He didn't like the plan they had. He wasn't even sure it could be called a plan. Or maybe it was the fact he hated leaving things in the hands of the mages. When it came down to it, he was useless against magic, and for that matter the Slayers and Angel were too. He hated everything about this.

What Connor hated the most was the niggling stupid part of his brain that said he owed these damn mages because without their nonsense, he'd never have been in Portland nor would have Dawn. They wouldn't have met. Oh, maybe in the future if Angel had a job to do with Buffy but then they would have known who each other was and nothing would have happened. Of course, that feeling drowned in the rage coursing through him at the thought of not only introducing Quor-Toth to Earth but having the balls to set a building on fire to either smoke Dawn out or to burn her alive, or more likely just out of spite since they needed Dawn.

They moved into the densely tree lined areas, and to say Buffy and her crew weren't used to being in the woods was an understatement. He might as well be working with a herd of bison. Giles didn't move quickly but since he knew both Ethan and magic they needed to take him. Connor stopped not even five hundred yards in. He turned his face into the night wind. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Angel doing the same. He read the wind. He hadn't made a mistake. Connor's stomach clenched, and he willed himself to calm down. Fear was the worst enemy it ran away with him, an ally if it gave him an edge.

"We have a huge problem," he said lowly.

"Yeah, roots," Faith cursed.

"No, Dawn and I never came to the arboretum but she's been here," Connor said.

"What are you talking about?" Buffy's flashlight illuminated him, blinding him. He waved her away angrily.

"He's right. Both Dawn and Gunn," Angel said. 

"Shit!" Faith growled as Buffy's hand convulsed on the flashlight. Connor thought she might actually crush it.

"We have to assume the mages have them because there's no way Gunn would side trip here," Angel said.

"They aren't alone. I mean, of course I can smell others, what with all the tourists, but the scents seem layered with Dawn's," Connor said. "We're going to need to alter our plan. If we come crashing along like we're doing, they're going to know, and if they have your sister...."

"But they could already be bleeding her if that's what they plan to do," Buffy argued.

"I know but I'm faster than all of you. I'm not sure how good Angel does in a forest." Connor eyed his father, thinking Angel could handle it better than a bunch of women who hadn't spent much time in the wilderness.

"But you aren't much when it comes to magic," Willow reminded him.

"I know but I'm excellent at stealth. So is Angel. We go ahead, and see if we can pick off whoever is holding Dawn and Gunn, and get them the hell out of there. The rest of you will be following behind us. You probably won't be trailing _that _badly."__

__Buffy turned to Angel. "Do you agree?"_ _

__"I do. Slayers are fast, and you see pretty well in the dark but not as well as Connor, and I and you can't track by scent. With the moon as bright as it is, we won't need to use the flashlights. We'll have an advantage."_ _

__"You know I won't put Dawn at risk if I can avoid it," Connor added._ _

__"And I know what they want both of you. If they toss a spell at you that you can't counter, they'll have what they want," Buffy replied "But I don't see any other way of doing this."_ _

__"All right then." Connor didn't wait for them to change their minds or argue. He'd probably hear about this later but he didn't care. He knew they didn't like that he wasn't much of a follower. He still wasn't used to being a team player. Both times in hell it was him and him alone or working with just one other person. Yeah he had a team in hell number two but mostly it was him in charge until they got back to earth, back to everyone wanting Angel, and treating Connor like he was a kid. Maybe it was more that than not being a team player. He hated to be treated like he didn't know what he was doing. His ego needed work._ _

__He moved swiftly, wanting to run even faster. Willow and Giles would never keep up, and the last thing he needed was to get so far ahead of the magic user that he'd end dup dead or worse before they could get there to protect the rest of them. If they could. Damn._ _

__Hearing voices, Connor slowed. Angel came to a stop next to him. He spotted something shimmering a few hundred yards away. Angel tensed. Connor swallowed back a string of invectives he wanted to let fly. That had to be the portal. If they killed Dawn, he'd push every one of their corpses through to Quor-Toth for disposal and not think twice. To hell with what Angel had to say about it, though he suspected his Dad would help. Together almost as one, they crept closer. Now he could see the portal more clearly. It was narrow, barely more than a standard doorway. If someone wanted to move an army through it would take forever, and all Connor and his team would have to do was sit near it with automatic weapons, cutting them down as they came through by ones and twos. The rift would need to be bigger to get more people through so he couldn't let that happen. Hell, even he had punched a bigger hole than this. Of course, that might be part of what they wanted with him. That said, he saw shadows moving beyond the portal. Something waited there._ _

__Connor pointed up and Angel nodded. They took to the trees. No one looked up. Humans weren't really geared that way. Of course, the branches would rustle and he could only hope they'd assume it was squirrels or opossums. As he swung over to a stout branch that barely moved as it accepted his weight, Connor spied the mages below him. Their attention was on the portal. He maneuvered to a lower branch that jostled a bit but garnered no attention. below him now was Dawn and Gunn. She was on her feet, not even gagged but bound. He could smell her blood in the air. Oh, someone was going to pay for that. Gunn sprawled on the ground gagged, bounce and unconscious at best._ _

__Only one person guarded Dawn, a tall, scarecrow of a redheaded man. Hooking his legs over the branch. Connor swung upside down, clamping a hand over the man's mouth and captured his neck in the crook of his arm, choking him out. Dawn grabbed the man, steadying him against her so he wouldn't hit ground with a thud. Hands bound, she barely kept him upright. Connor flipped out of the tree, landing on cat's feet. He helped Dawn lower the man to the ground next to Gunn just as he saw another mage get yanked upward into the trees almost silently courtesy of Angel._ _

__"How'd you find me?" Dawn whispered._ _

__"Told you I could track you. Smelled you as soon as I got here." He knelt and took Gunn's pulse. It was strong._ _

__Dawn wrinkled her nose. "Never thought I'd be grateful for something so gross."_ _

__Connor smirked as he cut through the ropes around her wrists. He gestured with the knife at the redhead. "That guy has a belt. Tie up his hand with it and jam some of his shirt in his mouth just in case, and then slowly head that way." He pointed back the way he came._ _

__Reluctantly, he left her, creeping forward toward an older man in a leather coat. He matched the picture Giles had showed him of Rayne. Him, Connor wanted to hurt most of all. The others were chanting, their concentration still on the portal. It was slightly larger. He could smell Buffy and her crew closer now. They should be in position soon._ _

__"We need more of her blood," one of the women said, making Connor curse because they all swiveled Dawn's way in time to see him standing there and her sneaking away._ _

__"Who the bloody hell are you?" Rayne asked, stumbling back._ _

__"The pissed off boyfriend," he replied lunging forward. He caught Rayne with a punch, taking him out._ _

__A lightning bold leapt from one of the women's fingertips making Connor scramble away. He grabbed Dawn's wrist, and he tugged a weapon out of his pocket._ _

__"Here. Taser. Just press the button. It'll take down a vampire so it should be good if the wizards get too close," he said in a whispered rush as he handed her the weapon._ _

__"And how did you even find us, Mr. Pissed Off Boyfriend?" one of the women asked, amused._ _

__"You guys left a trail anyone could track."_ _

__"What are you? A freaking Boy Scout?" Rayne asked, picking himself up, weaving on his feet, groggy._ _

__Connor kicked him back down, leaving him sprawling. "Something like that. So, what the hell do you think you're doing?"_ _

__"Raising hell," one of them answered with a laugh._ _

__"Yeah, I can't allow that," Connor replied, doing a quick head count. Willow's coven informants had been wrong. There weren't six of them. There were nine, well six and a half now since he and Angel had taken out two of them, and Rayne was on his back but clinging on somehow._ _

__"Like you can stop it," one of the men said, not noticing Angel sneaking up behind him. "Now get out of the way. We need our key to bleed a little more."_ _

__"Speaking of things that won't be happening." Connor heard Buffy and company getting closer now. He just had to keep these idiots distracted. Angel clubbed the guy. Without their magic, these guys didn't amount to much, and the fire ball heading his way told him they realized it too. He had to keep himself between them and Dawn but then a thought occurred. "Dawn, you know anything that might get them off my back?"_ _

__"Not yet. Sorry."_ _

__Before Connor could move, he was sent sprawling by an invisible hand and nearly tumbled into the portal. Back in Quor-Toth was the last thing he needed. "God, I _hate_ magic!" Connor tried to bounce back up before they could get hold of Dawn again, and his arm brushed the portal. It shimmered and widened suddenly. "Oh, what fresh hell is this?"_ _

__"Now why did it do that?" Rayne asked._ _

__"Who cares? It's what we needed. Maybe now would be a good time to try and call the Destroyer forth," one of the women said hurtling another fireball, this time at Angel forcing him to dodge._ _

__Was it cellular memory of that place making it somehow in tune with him, and that's what opened the portal more? Part of his evolution? Something moved behind the gate. Connor forced himself up, darting away from the portal before he ended up inside it._ _

__"That can't be good," Dawn said._ _

__"Connor, something is coming," Angel said, dodging another fireball._ _

__"Yeah I see it." He wished he had better weapons. Granted, he was pretty at home with the long knife he'd brought with him but maybe he ought to learn how to use an automatic rifle. It would probably come in handy right about now._ _

__A Dezgarah demon sauntered out, her blue horns spiraling above her head. She grinned at him, her teeth sharp and shinning. She screamed at him in the Dezgarahian language, and three more of them pushed through the portal along with an Olmyst demon or two._ _

__"Connor," Angel said, backing away to survey the scene and hopefully working up a plan._ _

__

__Out the corner of his eye Connor saw Faith and the rest of them arriving but they wouldn't get there in time to keep the Dezgarah demon from killing him if he didn't do something._ _

__"Bloody hell, Slayers!" Rayne bellowed._ _

__Connor ignored him. He screamed in the demon's language, issuing a challenge. She rushed him, and he caught the lunge, ripping one of her horns right off her head. He jammed it in her throat, tearing through tissue and vessels. Connor left her to bleed out, screaming another challenge at them. He had to keep them occupied. He had to give Dawn time to get the hell out of here. What must she think of him acting like this? He had no choice. Either he was the Destroyer again or they might all be dead._ _

__More demons came through forcing him to back up. He brandished the horn, and they gave him a wide berth directly into the path of the Slayers and Angel, right where Connor wanted them to go. Feeling air moving over the hairs on the back of his neck, Connor whirled just in time to see Ethan sneaking up on him hands out and words Connor didn't know on his lips. Connor swung the horn like a bat, catching him on the jaw, leaving Rayne woozy._ _

__He caught hold of Rayne with his free hand, yanking him close. "How do I shut the portal?"_ _

__"You think you can make me tell you," he said, but the quaver in his voice betrayed him._ _

__"I think I'm going to shove this up your ass." He tapped the horn against Rayne's cheek._ _

__"Connor, language," Angel said, punching another Dezgarah demon in the face._ _

__"Really?" Connor trailed the horn down Rayne's torso. "Or maybe up the other way."_ _

__"Seriously gross, dude," Faith called. "Beginning to see where you got your nickname."_ _

__Connor snorted. "What's it going to be, Rayne? A little information or a lot of pain?"_ _

__"Option three." Rayne's hand came up but before he could cast the spell, Connor threw him toward Giles._ _

__"Giles, you deal with him," he called as Rayne hit ground hard, rolling at Giles's feet. "Maybe we just keep hitting all the mages until they're done for, and that'll stop this."_ _

__"Works for me," Faith said, slashing into the chest of a Noind demon, like the one that had followed him from Quor-Toth the first time._ _

__"Those things have mates, Faith, keep an eye out," Connor called._ _

__"Great. Where is he?" She scanned around._ _

__"She, that was the male."_ _

__“Why do I feel so …bad.” Willow shuddered, and then hurled magic westward at some demons. “Does anyone else feel it?”_ _

__“Yeah, like I’m ice cold and a little sick,” Buffy said._ _

__“It’s like a miasma,” Giles replied._ _

__“It’s Quor-Toth,” Angel explained. “You’re feeling its energies.”_ _

__Connor wrinkled his nose. To him, it felt like home._ _

__"Destroyer," something bellowed, dragging Connor's attention back to the gate. "It has been too long!"_ _

__"Destroyer? Pissed Off Boyfriend can't be the Destroyer," one of the witches cried. "The Destroyer is a Quor-Tothian demon lord."_ _

__The huge Dezgarah demon laughed, and Connor recognized him from his childhood. "He killed my son, ate him and wore his skin. I would know him anywhere.” He shook the necklace of trophies dangling around his neck. “I learned this trick you, and now it's my time to put your...is that my daughter's horn?” The demon gawked at him._ _

__"Jhihon, it's been a long time. What? Centuries and was this your kid?” Connor waved the horn overhead, not wanting to know what the demon planned to tear off him to add to the trophy necklace. “Maybe you better stop sending them after me."_ _

__"I'll drink from your skull, Destroyer!" Jhihon roared._ _

__Connor wiggled the horn at him. "Bring it. I could use a new pair of leather boots."_ _

__"You are seriously deranged," Buffy called, feinting at a Kimte demoness._ _

__"I wouldn't use bare hands, Buffy." Connor dodged a fireball, lobbed his way. "It's like hitting bricks. Kimte's slice really nice though."_ _

__"Noted. Giles, Willow, can we do something about these demon mages?" Buffy asked as Connor jabbed at Jhihon with his knife._ _

__"Working on it."_ _

__Connor barely blocked one of Jhihon's swings distracted by the electrical crack of a Taser. Dawn took down a mage trying to grab her and Gunn. "Dawn, if your blood opens this thing, do you think your blood can close it?"_ _

__"I can try."_ _

__"Don't let her," one of the mages cried, prompting Buffy and Angel to try to cut a swath to Dawn to keep her safe._ _

__"What is your damn end game?" Connor slashed a bloody rut across Jhihon's chest. "What could you possibly want with Quor-Toth and the Destroyer? You're humans!"_ _

__"We don't want Quor-Toth. We wanted a legendary demon lord to win this world for us."_ _

__"Sorry, the only thing I've ever won was keg stand king during Greek Week."_ _

__"Good for you, kid. Daddy's surely _proud_." Faith laughed._ _

__"What? Mr. Galway Town Drunk? He probably is!" Connor parried another blow._ _

__"Hey! That's not what you're in college for," Angel sniped._ _

__"That's half the reason anyone goes to college in the first place."_ _

__"I don't even know what a keg stand is." Angel knock a demon straight back through the rift._ _

__"I bet if we look there's a YouTube video of him winning the crown." Faith said, still snickering._ _

__"Can we focus!" Connor growled. "I'm obvious not going to rule Earth. I'm working with the Slayers, not against them."_ _

__"But one of them is a pretty murky shade of grey. She'll probably help you rule," Rayne said, crab crawling away from the battle, and Giles kicked him in the groin._ _

__"I know Buffy sleeps with vampires but that's barely a reason to be rude about her," Connor said._ _

__"He means Faith," Buffy snarled._ _

__"Oh, well, I bet Jhihon will let you rule with him in Quor-Toth." Connor drove Jhihon back toward the rift._ _

__"Excellent idea. Bring the witches!" Jhihon cried, and three of them were swept into the gate shrieking._ _

__"I didn't mean that. Dawn, honey, I believe you can do this." Connor rammed Jhihon's daughter's horn into the demon's gut making him double over. He beheaded Jhihon. Connor snatched Jhihon's bloody trophy necklace over his head, yelling the Dezgarah language, insanely euphoric over the kill. He hoped his companions didn't notice. The demons backed away from him quickly, taking note of the trophy and the challenge Connor offered them. He turned to Dawn who had her hands out, her brow knit. The gate opened further, and a ridiculous amount of demons poured through._ _

__"The other way!" Willow yelled._ _

__"I'm trying!"_ _

__"Stop her," Rayne said, and surprisingly the demon hoard obeyed. Faith and Giles closed ranks with Buffy and Angel._ _

__"Guys, we are a little outnumbered here," Willow said as Giles lobbed a few fireballs into the hoard, scattering some of them._ _

__"Got a spell for it?" Connor asked, watching Dawn's face knot up as she concentrated on the rift._ _

__"Not for this many," Giles replied._ _

__"Magic still sucks," Connor grunted as demonic archers started taking aim at them._ _

__"Yeah, for any of you dumbass witches still around, the Destroyer hates you all." Faith laughed bitterly. "You had no prayer of him helping you do shit."_ _

__"Seriously," he agreed, surging forward to strike at the front line before anyone let loose with arrowy death. Giles and Willow at least distracted them with fire and lightning. Connor swore at least one of the would-be rulers of Earth threw in with them, maybe realizing how damn stupid their plan had been or more likely figured it was the only way to survive. Connor tried to keep himself between the hoard and Dawn to give her space to concentrate because she had to be able to close the gate. Keys didn't work only one way._ _

__A sharp cry to his left made him whip around. Faith was down with an arrow in her right hip, it having coursed through her from the fleshy part of her shapely butt. A barrage of arrows was heading toward him and Faith. Another blast of fire from Willow helped but it wouldn't be enough. He grabbed Faith's ankle and dragged her away closer to Gunn and Dawn._ _

__Something burned into his back, making him grunt. An arrow? He felt along his shoulder, his fingers coming away wet before they brushed a knife handle. _Great. How much metal is buried in me this time?__ _

__He hobbled around to face the hoard. Dawn’s gasp loud in his ear when she spotted the knife. “Who threw that? I’m so damn tired of all this. I’m not some fucking pawn!” Angel glanced his way, and Connor jammed a finger at him, feeling something familiar welling up in him but not as terrifying as the first time it happened with the Sisterhood of Jaro Hull. “Don’t tell me language, Dad, or this knife is heading your way.”_ _

__“I was going to say you’re bleeding bad,” Angel replied, fooling no one._ _

__“Uh-huh. Like I don’t know that. I’m telling every last one of you demons, go the hell back to Quor-Toth or you’re going to regret it._ _

__"Ha, you might have killed Jhihon," another Dezgarah demon chortled. "And took his trophies but he was an idiot."_ _

__"No question." The power built inside him. Connor's skin glowed softly, and Angel danced back knowing what was coming and maybe didn't trust Connor's dubious control. "But so are you if you don't turn tail right now."_ _

__Predictably no one did. They charged. Connor opened himself to his new ability, still clueless as to how to wield it correctly._ _

__"Kid, what the hell?" You're glowing!" Faith said, pain lacing her voice._ _

__"Angel?" Buffy sounded worried to Connor’s ear._ _

__Connor let the power spill out of him, glowing incandescent now. The white light poured over the demons. Their shrieks settled into silence quickly, leaving him disturbed but unable to stop the flow. He jumped when Dawn took his hand, and the power surged higher, washing over her a resonance echoing in his chest. A beatific expression settled over her face as she turned her gaze from him to the rift. It shriveled and closed. Connor willed the onslaught of energy to stop, and it slowly fizzled out._ _

__"Wow," Willow whispered, surveying the woods which other than scuffled earth, looked pristine. Every weapon - much like when Cordy had robbed him of his knife - was gone, and every fallen demon had evaporated to mist. "For someone who hates magic, that's some major juju, Connor."_ _

__"Reminded me of when...um, you went dark, Will," Buffy said with a note of apology in her tone._ _

__"I said I was evolving. God knows into what," Connor said, trying to focus but the world spun. "Dawn, think you can hold me up?"_ _

__"Huh?"_ _

__She tried to catch him, and at least managed to keep him from face planting on Faith. "Connor! Oh, Angel, that knife dissolved. He's bleeding freely!"_ _

__"I heal fast," Connor muttered. "Least I hope so. Been dead twice and came back. Not sure I have a third time in me."_ _

__"You too?" Buffy arched her eyebrows, and he saluted her._ _

__Fighting his vertigo and exhaustion, Connor sat up turning to Faith. A least his own blade hadn't turned to nothingness, and he cut her pants near the arrow._ _

__"Hey!"_ _

__"Just checking," he said, as Angel hiked up his shirt to check his wound. A bump near her hip showed Connor where the arrowhead was, just under the skin. He'd need to distract Faith. He wished his vision wasn't swimming so much. He'd let the others deal with her injury otherwise but he had to check for something. "What do you think of me now, Faith?" he asked, ignoring Dawn's jealous glare._ _

__"You're twisted but you could almost be a Slay-ah!" she yelped as he sliced the skin over the arrow head with one hand and shoved the arrow free with the other. "You dick!"_ _

__He broke the head off and pulled both ends free. Giles had his shirt off and used it to bind Faith's leg as Connor sniffed the arrow head._ _

__"What the hell are you doing?" Buffy asked at the same time Angel told him "Sit still, Connor."_ _

__"Sometimes they poison the tips. I needed to check. Sorry, Faith." Connor tossed the arrow away, and then got momentarily blinded as Angel tore his shirt off. The trophy necklace slipped under the neck hole, banging against his skin._ _

__"Well, am I poisoned, Crazy pants?"_ _

__"That's how you ask?"_ _

__"Connor, seriously, _sit still_!" Angel ordered, probing Connor's back. “And technically I think you were dead after the Sisterhood was done with you so it’s three times you’ve made it back.”_ _

__"Ouch! Are you making it worse?" Connor tried to look over his shoulder to watch Angel. “And yeah you’re right. I think I might have been dead that time too.”_ _

__"No. It's trying to seal but it's still bleeding." Angel pressed Connor's shirt over the wound._ _

__"And I can still kick your ass, kid, if you don't tell me." Faith tapped his knee._ _

__"It's fine. You’ll live to beat me up another day." He smirked._ _

__"Provided your chest isn’t filling with blood," Dawn said. "Do we need to get him to the hospital, Angel?"_ _

__"I'm not sure. His heart is beating fast but on the other hand, Connor usually can take more damage than this."_ _

__"That's the baroreceptor relax, a compensation for the blood loss," Willow said. "The rapid heartbeat I mean."_ _

__"And like Dad said, I've been hurt way worse before." Connor sighed. "My chest doesn't feel heavy. I think I'm fine but that really took it out of me. Dawn, you did it! That was great!_ _

__"It really was." Buffy patted Dawn's shoulder._ _

__"I think Connor’s power boosted mine. And I'm tired too like sleep for a week tired."_ _

__"Ditto. Hey, where the hell's Rayne? I didn't see him get pulled through to Quor-Toth."_ _

__Everyone looked around, and then Buffy replied, “Probably scuttled off like the roach he is."_ _

__"He does have highly developed survival skills. Always has,” Giles replied._ _

__"Are all of your friends so sketchy?" Connor asked._ _

__"Don't turn over that rock." Buffy jabbed a finger at him. "And is your friend dead?"_ _

__"No, but he might need the hospital. He’s been unconscious since before this whole thing started. That's probably a bad head injury or something," Connor said as Angel ripped a piece of his own shirt to use it to bind Connor's shirt in place over the wound._ _

__"No, it was a sleep spell," Dawn replied. "I don’t know if it needs a counter spell to wake him up."_ _

__"I'm not playing Prince Charming for that Sleeping Beauty." Connor replied. "You're team leader, Angel. You can have the honors."_ _

__Angel cinched the shirt bandage tighter than necessary. "I'm sure Gunn will appreciate one of the ladies if it comes to that. How did they get hold of you, Dawn?"_ _

__"I was wondering that myself," Buffy added._ _

__"Tracking spell. When they broke into Connor's apartment, they got some of my hair apparently." She shuddered. "They had a trap set for us."_ _

__"How badly are you hurt?" Buffy pulled sister in front of her washing the flashlight over her belatedly remembering Dawn had been bled._ _

__"It's not bad. It's already clotted." She held out her arm to show the wound near the elbow. "But shouldn't we get out of here?"_ _

__"We should. Faith, you need help up?" Buffy asked._ _

__"Probably. I can't believe I got shot in the ass." She groaned._ _

__"Pesky demons," Willow said, assisting Buffy to get Faith to her feet. "Should we try to help those who were taken?"_ _

__"They brought it on themselves," Angel said, sliding an arm around Connor’s back, hooking his hand under one armpit._ _

__"Time moves different there. They've already been in Quor-Toth for days by now. It's probably too late," Connor struggled to get his feet under him to help his dad lift him._ _

__Angel took most of Connor's weight. The arboretum spun like the tilt-a-whirl, and Connor gagged, nearly vomiting._ _

__"Connor?" Angel patted his arm._ _

__"Feels like my head is full of helium." Connor tried to pull away, and nearly fell. He leaned over, and vomited this time._ _

__"Maybe we do need to take you to the hospital." Angel rubbed Connor’s back on the uninjured side._ _

__"And do the police report on how I get stabbed and where it happened?" Connor shook his head and spat to clear his mouth. "No, it's just all that energy I gave up. If I get worse, then take me. I know you can hear and monitor my heart beat."_ _

__"You have a point. Same goes for me," Faith said. “Even more so. No cops."_ _

__"Okay, Giles think you can help Connor walk if he can?” Angel steadied Connor when he swayed. “I have to carry Gunn. If not, it'll be two trips."_ _

__"Let me try to wake Gunn first. I'm betting I know they spell they used," Giles replied._ _

__"Better yet."_ _

__Giles was able to rouse Gunn who - while groggy - could walk with Giles's help. Willow and Buffy assisted Faith while Dawn helped Angel walk Connor out._ _

__"That was an incredible display of power," Giles said as they walked. "I've not seen anything like it."_ _

__"When the Powers That Be gave Cordy an upgrade so she could handle the visions Doyle gifted her, she could do something similar,” Angel said. "Connor nearly died the first time it happened. The Sisterhood of Jaro Hull had him chained to a Saint Andrew's cross, stabbing the hell out of him."_ _

__"Jethro Tull?" Giles glanced over._ _

__"No, they would have been better than Jaro Hull."_ _

__"And don't ask me how I do it because honestly I don't know. It happens when I'm really pushed."_ _

__"Did I hear you say you died twice?" Giles said as they got back on a paved path._ _

__"Angel that had...I'm sorry you had to go through that," Buffy said. "To lose him so many times."_ _

__"It was Dad’s fault two of the three times. To be fair, the first time, he was the one to kill me but it was what I wanted, the whole suicide by vampire attempt," Connor said, stumbling. He forced himself to walk. He didn't want carried out in front of the Slayers or Dawn._ _

__"That's why the spell was cast," Angel said glumly. "Let's not talk about that now, Connor."_ _

__He nodded and instantly regretted it. He gagged and nearly vomited again. "The second time in hell he was busy pissing off every demon lord there, and they got together and decided 'You know what would hurt, angel? Killing his kid’!"_ _

__"And you survived that!" Angel protested. "What did you in was jumping into my fight to try and save me."_ _

__"Well, I'm an idiot. What can I say?"_ _

__"How about nothing and save your strength?"_ _

__Connor grunted at him but followed that advice until they got back to the vehicles which miraculously hadn't attracted any attention. He stopped next to the garbage can and nearly fell because Angel didn't stop with him. Connor lifted the trophy necklace off and dumped it inside the can._ _

__"It was the one thing that didn't just go poof but I shouldn't be walking around it," Connor said._ _

__"Good point," Angel agreed._ _

__"Which brings up a question, did you really kill, eat and wear that demon's kid?" Faith asked, ignoring Angel's glare._ _

__"Things not found in Quor-Toth, grocery stores, butcher shops, clothing’s stores. Anything I ate or wore I killed, skinned, tanned, and sewed myself so yeah, I did."_ _

__"But...they're sentient," Willow protested._ _

__Connor shrugged. "He'd have done the same to me if he could. There wasn't a lot of choice. Most meat isn't toxic - fugu aside - but a lot of plants are. Father and I didn't have all of human history to tell us what plants were safe and which weren't, and with only two humans there, we had no safe way to test the plants."_ _

__"I...wow, I guess I hadn't thought of it like that," Willow said._ _

__"Guess you eat the carnivore's delight pizza," Faith snorted._ _

__"I enjoy pesto pizza too but yeah, I probably won’t go vegan any time soon. That said, I do like fruit, especially and veggies but no tomatoes. They're fine in sauce but I don't like them otherwise. And I since I didn't want from die of toxic plants, and I hated fighting naked I did what was necessary, not necessarily what I enjoyed doing. I'm not running around here Jeffry Dahmering the populace."_ _

__"I should hope not," Buffy said, propping Faith up against the car. "Meet back at the hotel?"_ _

__Angel nodded. Buffy made Dawn ride in the back of her vehicle with Faith while Angel deposited Connor in the back seat of his. Connor tried to pretend Dawn went with Buffy because Buffy worried about her sister and not because of his and Father's ‘use up everything but the squeal’ policy toward demons. He drowsed in the back seat in spite of his sweat-stink and the itchiness of the drying blood._ _

__At the hotel, Angel gave Connor his coat to hide the makeshift bloody bandages and helped him hobble to the elevator. He wanted to fall into bed but instead he staggered into the bath room and dragged into the shower. The hot water worked wonders on his sore muscles leaving him standing in a pink puddle as the dried blood pooled at his feet. The tub was a slow drainer._ _

__When he got out he found a folded pair of jogging pants and T-shirt, Faith's. He was both grateful and vaguely insulted. He'd have to go shopping or find out if anything of his survived the fire. He'd gotten a call saying the building had been saved and deemed safe to enter. His underpants weren't too bloody and the blood had dried anyhow. Wearing them beat having his parts jiggling back and forth in tight jogging pants. He carried the shirt. Everyone but Faith was in the room he was sharing with Angel. He figured Faith was in the shower in her room down the hall._ _

__"Thanks for the clothes but really? Faith's pants?"_ _

__"Which of the men's clothes do you dream would fit you?" Gunn asked, sprawled on one of the two beds. "I'm a half a foot taller than you."_ _

__Connor wrinkled his nose, then jerked a hand at Angel. "True, and this one's half a foot wider."_ _

__"Hey! I'm not fat," Angel huffed. "You're just...built like your mother, tiny."_ _

__Connor snorted, then sat on the edge of the bed. "Does anyone have bandages?"_ _

__Buffy held up a bag of assorted dressing materials and a tube of Neosporin. She came around behind him, her fingers gentle on his back as she examined the wound. "Wow, this looks impossibly good."_ _

__"I heal like a vampire," he said. "It's one thing about my heritage I can't complain about. But it might still open up, and I don't want to bleed all over the borrowed clothes."_ _

__"I'll patch you up, and then go see if Faith's ready for the same. Could use my own shower," she said, expertly bandaging him up. Buffy leaned against his shoulder and said softly, "Thank you for saving my sister."_ _

__"Always. I will protect her always," he said, stretching out on the bed. He wasn't going to stay awake for much longer._ _

__"He is protective," Angel said, and Buffy shot him a grateful look._ _

__"Dawn, are you okay?" Connor asked._ _

__"I am okay. Buffy bandaged me up." She held out her arm._ _

__"No, I meant....with everything else. With seeing Quor-Toth and all those horrible mages."_ _

__She sat next to him, settling into the crook of his hip. Dawn took his hand. "I'm fine, maybe even more amazed you survived that place. It felt so awful.”_ _

__He reached up and brushed her cheek. "I'm tough, and you look tired. I'm sure that whole gate thing exhausted you. Maybe you should get some sleep."_ _

__"I will but I think I'll stay here until you fall to sleep, which will probably take three minutes from the looks of it," Dawn said, and he smiled._ _

__"True."_ _

__Angel motioned for Dawn to stand up. When she did, he yanked the bedding down, right from under Connor, and covered him up. Connor didn’t know if Dawn sat back down. He was asleep before Angel finished his ridiculous level of tuck-in.  
 _ _


	6. Dawn

Chapter Six- Dawn

The sounds and sights of tumbling water embedded in her memory but Dawn backed up her brain with pictures. Multnomah Falls was crowded, and Benson Bridge even more so since it was such a photo op. She was still a bit shocked that she had escaped Buffy's watchful eye long enough to head into the Columbia Gorge with Connor. 

The fact that Connor hadn't freaked her out in spite of what she saw and heard surprised her. She understood better how different he was and how dangerous he could be, and yet it didn't bother her. Why should it? Dawn reasoned Buffy and Faith were no less dangerous, Willow either. She wasn't going to be put off by someone raised in hell. It wasn't exactly Connor's fault that place twisted him up.

He leaned in but instead of kissing her, he whispered, "Company coming."

Before Dawn could look around she heard Faith call out, "This looks cozy."

"It was." Dawn sighed, patting Connor’s chest.

"Do they have a tracking spell on you too?" Connor asked.

"No, I left a message telling Buffy where I was. Should have known they'd come after us." Dawn swept her gaze over Buffy and Willow who had arrived with Faith. "The guys looked like they had sense enough to _not_ come."

"Well, Dad couldn't." Connor glanced up at the sun.

"Gunn wanted to check out the city," Faith replied.

"And Giles is meeting with DeShawn's mother, to let her know to be on the lookout for any signs of Rayne, which so far there’s none," Willow said, beckoning for Dawn to hand over her camera. "It's beautiful here."

"It really is," Buffy said, staring up at the top of the falls.

"It's why I really wanted to be sure Dawn got out here," Connor said. 

"We took in a few of the other falls too," Dawn said. "And Connor took me for a very nice lunch at the lodge, even if he did eat a baby lamb."

He rolled his eyes at her. "That's what gyros are made of! It's not like I ran it down and killed it, and those shrimps on your sandwich were just as much alive at one point."

"Yeah but they look like stretched out spiders so it doesn't count." She swatted his arm.

"Okay, so if it's cute it counts. Good to know." That eye roll worsened.

"And he probably would have run the lamb down if necessary," Faith said, and Connor narrowed his eyes at her.

"To be honest, I can eat just about anything but I'm sort of sad we didn't get seconds on that maple bourbon crème brulee," Connor said, a dreamy expression on his face as he recalled dessert. Dawn didn’t blame him. It had been fantastic.

"Eat anything? You'll need that ability if Dawn is cooking." Faith laughed.

"Not funny, Faith," Dawn huffed.

"But accurate," Willow put in. "Scoot in there, Connor and smile." She gestured for the two of them to get close. 

Dawn dragged him against her, and let Willow capture them against the beautiful backdrop of the falls. She took some of Willow, Buffy and Faith, and finally a kind stranger offered to take pictures of all of them against the bridge rail. Connor looked almost a little too happy to be in the middle with two women on either side.

"I'm going to need copies of that one," Connor said.

"Going to pretend it's your harem?" Faith slapped his shoulder.

"That's my plan," Connor smirked, and Dawn shook her head.

"Men! Come on, let's get off the bridge so others can get their pictures," she said.

"And before she chucks you into free fall over it." Buffy grinned, imagining it unless Dawn missed her guess.

He snorted. "Wise. So, are you three herding us home now?"

"We don't have to rush," Buffy replied as they started down the hillside toward the lodge. She gave him a long look. "You look different, a little less intense."

"Mission’s over," he shrugged. "And I really like it here. I feel more at home in the woods than in the city somehow."

"It is nice here," Dawn said. "But your apartment is torched so you can’t stay here anymore. We did stop and check the apartment out, guys but his place was ground central. We hit Wal-Mart for some cheap clothes to tide us over." She tugged at her cheap shirt. At least it was cute.

"Yeah, that really sucks. I guess I'll go back with Angel for now."

"For now?" Dawn looked at him. "You don’t actually live there."

"Off and on. Dad sent me here with this apartment as part of the mission but on more than one occasion he's thrown me out of the house." Connor shrugged again, saying it like it was nothing.

Dawn couldn't make her mouth work, not sure what to say to that. She couldn’t imagine it.

"Angel wouldn't just toss anyone out," Willow protested. "He's not like that."

Connor rolled his shoulders. "Eh, he's done it at least three times. Once, I kinda deserved it. It was after Wes fished him out of the ocean."

"Okay, I can see that but what did you do the other times?" Buffy asked. Dawn wanted to kick her for assuming Connor deserved it, but appeared unoffended. 

"It's the second time that was Angel's big mistake. I was scared and ready to admit I needed his help because Cordy was trying to convince me the never-ending night and the Beast were my fault, somehow linked to me. But instead he chose to act like a jealous douche and toss us both out, leaving me with Cordy. As if somehow I knew they were a couple when I was a baby, and she was supposed to be Mom?"

He couldn't hide the bitterness and Dawn squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry."

"I'm still working on them being a couple," Buffy grumbled.

"And what was Cordy thinking if that's the case?" Willow said, then blushed realizing it sounded rude.

"We think she was already being controlled by our daughter." He sighed. "Because I think Wes was right in that she already existed in a hell dimension, and we were just her portal to this realm but in a really weird way compared to what you can do, Dawn."

"You don't have to talk about it, Connor. I know it upsets you." Dawn slipped an arm around him. "It's been too nice a day to make you sad now."

"Thanks. Anyhow time three makes sense in retrospect but it sure hurt when it happened. I could have used help keeping all these humans safe in hell, and having to work with Spike who I didn't know wasn't easy given how much I loathe vampires,” he said softly as there was a pack of tourists right behind them. “Anyhow Dad, in case he didn't tell you because he likes to keep pertinent information secret, had become a human there but none of us knew until nearly the end. And that’s why I jumped into his fight, which is how Gunn stabbed me to death."

"Wait. It was Gunn?" Buffy's eyes went wide. Dawn couldn’t comprehend it.

"He was a vampire there, blamed Angel for it, killed me for the fun of it. Well out of revenge, I guess, and even though that whole timeline no longer happened, again with the big magic, we remember it. It's one of the reasons Gunn and I don't get along well."

"That's horrible. Why is everything in your life so awful?" Dawn rubbed his side.

"I haven't had a lot of luck outside of you."

That made her smile but Dawn couldn’t maintain it. "And I still dragged you into face Quor-Toth again."

“Nothing I can't handle."

"But is this why you're so reluctant to go home?" Dawn asked, thinking about what they had talked about on the trip to the gorge.

"Yeah, well that, and I'm not ready to leave you if you're not going to be in L.A."

"There's time to discuss that," Buffy said, surprising Dawn. She wanted to question it but didn’t want to push her luck. Buffy seemed happy and that made Dawn happy too.

"And you do know the real Gunn wouldn’t want to murder you, right?" Faith asked.

"Don't be so sure. He and I have never gotten on. He thinks he should be in charge, and I think I should be."

"So three alpha males in one house. No wonder you don't want to go home." Dawn hauled him closer and kissed his cheek. "I'd say come with us but you might get lost in a sea of estrogen."

"Terrifying," Connor replied. "And I'd just be traded out two alphas for another two alphas." He gestured to Buffy and Faith.

"Damn straight." Faith reached around Dawn to tightly swat the back of Connor’s head. “And that reminds me, we need to have that sparring rematch."

"Sure.” Connor raked his gaze over Faith. “How's your butt by the way?"

Faith grinned. "Want to check?”

“Faith,” Buffy said shooting her a look.

Faith rolled her eyes. “And how’s your back?"

"Sore, but by tomorrow I'll be fine. I want to spar with you and Buffy, not together but yeah, should be fun."

"Let's not get all over stimulated," Dawn said, not feeling jealous this time. She accepted it was the battle he wanted from the slayers and not anything sexual.

"So long as I turned the overstimulation in the right direction does it matter how I got that way?"

"Yes!" Buffy snapped. "Don’t be a little pervert."

"B doesn't get the whole slaying makes you hungry and horny thing." Faith smirked.

"Hmmm." Connor raised his eyebrows at Buffy. Dawn suppressed the urge to kill himfor helping to light that fuse.

"She said maybe she craves a yogurt." Faith snickered as Buffy glowered.

"That is not what I crave," Connor muttered.

"No one wants to know what you crave," Buffy hissed in warning.

"Yes, let's keep that to ourselves so you live to get off the hillside," Dawn patted his side.

Connor laughed. "Keep in mind I don't dust like a vampire. You _will_ have a body to explain."

"Might be the only reason you live to see the hotel again," Buffy replied brightly.

"Play nice." Dawn told her.

And they did. They visited the Bridal Veil Falls afterward before heading back to the hotel.

When they got to the hotel, Gunn was still out - this time getting the dinner he'd called them about to get their order - and Dawn was somehow surprised to see Angel and Giles talking together like old friends. She knew it had to be hard for them both after what Angelus had done, and frankly because of the wedge Andrew's faulty Intel had driven between Giles and Angel's team. How many could have died because of it?

"Let's see some of those pictures, Dawn," Buffy said, flopping on the bed. She patted the spot next to her. "I want to see the falls we didn't get to."

"Sure." She beamed, thrilled Buffy hadn’t been upset like Dawn had predicted.

"I see you somehow survived, son." Angel smirked.

"I think Buffy and I have come to a peaceful accord for now." Connor sat at the desk. "And Giles didn't dust you, so you're doing okay too."

"We've been talking about Holtz. I looked him up, and I have to admit, I am astounded," Giles said.

Dawn glanced at him. "Really? How so? Can that even be a safe topic?"

"I wouldn't call it safe," Angel said. "But Giles is curious about Connor, and it's hard to talk about him without acknowledging the first eighteen years of his life."

"Talking about his life at all is hard," Buffy said. "As Dawn said, there's a whole lot of awful there."

Angel cast his gaze to the horrible hotel carpet and nodded.

"There's a whole lot of awful for all of us," Connor said. "What astounded you about Holtz, Giles?"

"That in the seventeen hundreds, he was capable of killing nearly four hundred vampires with his team." Giles replied, wide-eyed.

Dawn's jaw dropped, mirroring Buffy's.

"Four hundred?" Faith thumped down on the second bed next to Angel. "I'm a Slayer, and I haven't managed to kill that many. I feel like I'm not pulling my weight."

"That can't be right, can it?" Buffy asked.

"Oh, it's right. Father was bad assed," Connor said. 

Angel spread his hands, "Can't argue that. He kept you alive in Quor-Toth as an infant, after all. But that count is accurate. It offended a lot of us, some man acting like a Slayer. That's why Darla and I went to teach Holtz a lesson he wouldn't forget."

"Yeah, how'd that work out for you?" Connor asked, rolling his eyes.

"About as well as winning a life from the Powers," Angel shot back, slotting his eyes at his son. 

Connor snorted.

Dawn shook her head. "Behave. It's been a nice day. Leave it that way."

He rolled his eyes at her too as Faith got back up and picked up Willow's lap top. "Can I?"

Willow nodded just as Connor's phone rang. He answered. "Oh, hey Spike? Couldn't figure out Skype again?...yeah I don't sit around all day just waiting for people to Skype me. Dawn and I were out at the falls in Columbia gorge, went for a romantic lunch." His smirk told Dawn he was twisting the knife. She mouthed 'Behave.' "Putting you on speaker phone."

"You gormless wanker, keep your manky little fingers off our Dawnie," Spike's voice echoed out of the speaker. "She deserves better than bell head like you."

"Hey, don't call my son names," Angel bellowed.

"Piss off, Peaches."

"Did you call me just to insult me or did you have a point?" Connor asked.

"Illyria thinks she knows why someone wants you."

"Yeah to be a demon lord to rule earth. I already know. We beat them yesterday," he replied. 

"Git. Plan on telling us? And that wasn't what Illyria saw, so maybe someone else is after you. Another reason to get Dawn away from you."

"It's going to sound like I'm hanging up," Connor said, holding his finger over the button.

"They want to breed you like a prize stallion, which since you're like a dog with two dicks, that'll probably work out for you," Spike shouted hurriedly into his phone.

Connor sighed, his cheeks bright red. "Dammit. Did she see who?"

"Not yet. Is Buffy there? Put her on. I need to talk to her about the kiddo."

Connor took it off speaker and surrendered his phone to her, ignoring her hot look. Dawn nudged him with her foot, and he smiled. "You have competition."

"I heard." Dawn rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache starting.

"And you still are being merciful and have no interest in having my babies, right?"

Dawn laughed, her cheeks heating up. "Not in the immediate future."

"Thank god. I would like to decide if I'm going back to school or whatever it is I'm going to do with my life besides fight the monsters."

"It's not easy to do both," Buffy said handing the phone back just as Gunn came through the door with two big bags of food. 

"Burgers, he said.

"I figured that, Buffy, but I have to do something, right? I can't live off Angel all the time. I just don't know what I want to do. I did get compassionate leave from the school but if I don't go back soon I won't be going back. And thanks Gunn." Connor got up to root in the bag for his burger. The rest of them followed suit.

"I would like to see you go back to school," Angel said. "I can hold the fort without you. Giles and I thought you might even have a place with the Watchers. They do have field agents."

"Yeah, the thug squad," Faith snorted. "And I found it!"

"Found what?" Willow asked, getting her garden burger out of the bag.

"Youtubes of Greek Week...well maybe not. This looks like a Saint Paddy's day celebration. Here, Dad, make sure you really want to send your boy back to this." Faith deposited the lap top in Angel's hands then went to raid the burger bags.

"Man, you suck, Faith" Connor grumbled as Dawn retreated next to Angel with a paper plate and her blue cheese burger. She wanted to see the video.

"Oh, like you can't believe,” Faith bragged, pinching Connor’s butt.

"Faith!" Dawn snapped. "Keep your hands and lips off."

Faith laughed. "Just reminding you he ate a baby lamb today and demon face at least once in his life and...Dear god, what the hell is that burger? It's monstrous." She pointed to Connor’s dinner.

Connor looked at his burger. "It's the barnyard. Hope it tastes as good as it looks."

"That is a big sandwich," Dawn said, wondering where, in his narrow little stomach, he planned to put it.

"A burger, ham, bacon, two kinds of cheese, a fried egg, onion straws and crispy jalapeno chips and ew... tomatoes. Disgusting." Connor wrinkled his nose, picking the tomatoes off.

"Yes, get rid of the one healthy thing on there." Willow laughed.

Dawn got up and snagged the tomatoes. "Maybe if you put a little salt on them, you'd like them better."

"Maybe. Anyhow, what would I have to do to be a Watcher? Wouldn’t I be better at being a Slayer only, you know, with slightly different plumbing?"  
Buffy snorted. "Watchers get better pay but you keep it up, you'll end up the lone male Slayer with Dawn as your Watcher."

"I would be okay with that."

"And speaking of which, what happens now? I mean...I know I'm not going to just move in with Connor but can I at least be in L.A.?" Dawn set her burger aside, suddenly not in the mood. 

"We do have a lot of room in our headquarters," Angel said. "If you wanted to assign a few Slayers we know to our area...not the ones who were already in L.A. who sort of remember being in hell and how badly it went."

"I've already reassigned those ladies," Giles said. 

"I don't know," Buffy said. "I think maybe we could talk about it. I want Dawn in school too. Willow's considering going back as well. I think we've tracked down most of the new Slayers, and we need new watchers."

"And schooling is important for them." Giles made a face. "Slayers rarely lived long enough to be concerned with it, something I was hoping to change with the new Council."

"I think we could help each other, you know, if Connor doesn't die immediately after the unhealthiness of that burger or the fact he drinks like a fish. My god, I thought I was bad at that age!" Angel pointed to the computer.

"Again, Faith, you suck." Connor moaned. "And it was a party. You remember them. I mean, I know your brain's been dead a long time, and if Spike is be believed, it wasn't all that good to start with, not to mention I did brain damage you some with the whole under the sea thing."

"Giles, you wanted to study Connor, right? He's yours. Take him wherever you'd like." Angel glared at Connor.

Connor smirked. "I think I've be thrown out again."

"Yes, and I see why. You're a brat and that's _me_ saying that." Dawn laughed. "Angel's smart."

"You're going to have to show your work on that one," Connor replied, taking a big bite of his burger, and Gunn nearly choked on his sandwich, laughing.

"Seriously Giles, if you want to drag him back to London, feel free."

"Maybe you'd fare better in all of this, Dad, if you quit letting your enemies have me. Holtz, Wolfram and Hart, Giles."

Angel sighed. "I didn't...okay I did let Wolfram and Hart have you, which wasn't my smartest move. Holtz stole you, and I wouldn't say Giles is an enemy per se. We're never going to be best friends but what did you say earlier? We've reached an accord."

"You know what happened with Jenny, don't you?" Dawn asked Connor who nodded.

"I told him. If he was going to be friends with all of you, I thought he needed the whole truth." Angel frowned. "Holtz has already told him all the horrible things Darla and Angelus did. What was one more terrible thing?"

"Those were my bed time stories, what your demon parents did, how to kill all the demons and stories about Dover and York, which I wouldn't mind seeing," Connor said, and Buffy went over and put a hand over his mouth.

"Hush. Seriously, every word you utter other than to annoy your father is one sadness after another" she said. "I'm partially afraid to let Dawn date you because it's all so tragic but at this point you deserve some happiness."

He grinned under her fingers. "Thanks, Buffy. And I hope you and Dawn and the others come stay with us for a while. Giles, I'm happy to answer your questions. I don't mind...but is it going to be written up in those Watcher diaries?"

"We can discuss it. I think we can spend a little time in L.A.. There is always plenty of activity there that could use a Slayer's attention. If Angel and Gunn don't mind an invasion of their space."

"I'm always good with more warriors." Gunn shrugged.

"And Faith has always had a home with us if she wanted it," Angel said. "I wouldn't turn away any of you. Just keep in mind Illyria and Spike live there off and on."

"As long as Blue keeps her hands off Connor until that a thousand year mark, I'm good with it," Dawn said.

Connor made a disparaging noise. "She doesn't find me attractive. Don’t worry."

"Good!"

"I guess we're going to L.A. for a while then," Buffy said and Dawn smiled at her. 

She resisted the urge to dance out her joy. Instead, she dug into the burger. Later, she and Connor headed down to the outdoor pool. Buffy and Willow were already there. Faith had headed out to find night life with Gunn. Angel surprisingly sat in a deck chair, still in the shadows as the sun wasn't fully down.

Shirtless and wearing the last swimsuit in the Wal-Mart - a hideous mix of blue orange and purple - Connor looked younger than he probably was. The scar on his back looked like it had been healing for a week instead of a day. In her equally last choice swim suit, Dawn slipped into the shallow end of the pool with him. She looked into the sky trying to see whatever he was looking at.

"Is there something out there?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No, just thinking I wished we could have seen the falls at sunset."

"It is a pretty sunset," she agreed, taking in the purples and golds of the sky.

"Would have been prettier there," he replied, slipping an arm around her waist. "But I'm happy that you'll be staying with us in L.A."

Dawn grinned. "I still can't believe it. You know we'll never have privacy there."

Connor smirked. "Yeah but I'm good at hiding and sneaking out. We'll be okay."

She linked her fingers with his. "We'll be better than okay."

Connor leaned close to kiss her. She melted against him. It had been a rough few days but Dawn couldn't complain about how it ended. This was a wonderful way to end an adventure. Dawn couldn't wait until the next one.


End file.
